EC: Blood plus Emiya
by sagitarius
Summary: Emiya Clan story aboutJohnathan 'Jun' Emiya. Magus in training, and new transfer student at Koza high school. Intrigued by the odd feeling of power he senses from one of his classmates, he observes her during his first week, and is soon caught up in movements of secret organizations, and under the table military activities. More information on EC inside.
1. Prologue

For those of you who've heard of the EC and hate it to hell, please just leave now. I'd much rather know that there are people out there who are smart enough to just not bother with something they don't like than be stupid enough to harp on about how horrible it is in their opinion.

For those who don't know about the EC, here's the basic layout: Some time two years ago, Gabriel Blessing wrote the fanfiction series, In Flight, a Fate/Stay Night and Sekirei crossover. Fans of this eventually began to make omakes of the series. Most of these were one-off snippets, while others evolved into their own series. One series, in particular, detracted so much, that it needed its own thread, due to half of the forumers response to it.

This was the Emiya clan series. Put simply, Shirou Emiya (The protagonist of Fate/Stay Night and In Flight), gained a harem made up of his two girlfriends from one of the endings of F/SN, the Sekirei that bonded themselves to him during In Flight, and a few other women throughout his game's universe. The women in these harem eventually had children, of whom the stories of the EC thread are based around on.

This is one of those stories. The story of Jun Emiya.

For further information, please refer to the following links: (Replace dots with fullstops and remove spaces)

www dot fanfiction dot net /s/7052893/1/Emiya_Clan_Reference_Data_Sheet

(Please note that this is only a rough draft of the information created and edited by someone who, by all rights, could very well be DC comics' Joker. It is advised you take things written here with a grain of salt)

tvtropes dot org /pmwiki /pmwiki dot php /Characters/TheEmiyaClan

(For information on the characters. May contain some spoilers)

tvtropes dot org /pmwiki /pmwiki dot php /FanFic/TheEmiyaClan

(For the EC as a whole. Definitely contains spoilers)

Now that that's out of the way, let me make it clear that I own very few things in this story. Blood plus, does not belong to me, nor does Fate/Stay Night, Sekirei, In Flight, and even the OC main character, who I've built the personality of, was not created by me. Even if he was, he is still the property of the collective EC community.

That said, I present to you:

**Blood plus Emiya: Prologue**

Jun stared up at his teacher in surprise. "I'm… sorry sir. Could you repeat that again?" he asked incredulously, wondering whether he'd just misheard.

The balding instructor quirked his brow in confusion. "I said, you've been chosen for that transfer programme to Okinawa," he replied, turning a form over so he could show it to the boy. On it was a signup sheet for the aforementioned programme, filled out completely with all his needed personal and academic information, along with a stamp of approval.

Being a smart student, it certainly shouldn't have surprised Jun that he'd be accepted for a programme that gave the school a chance to show off their work. That is to say, if he actually did sign up for the programme… which he didn't.

This ultimately left only one possible explanation. One that the magus in training was all too happy to bemoan in his mind: _"Riko-nee."_

-X-

Jun sat on his workshop's desk, staring at the transfer form, just as he had been for the last hour since coming home. Thus far, he'd yet to tell any of his parents –or even siblings, for that matter– about it; though he had a sneaking suspicion that his prankster of a sister already knew.

Even if he didn't plan it, transferring over to Okinawa certainly wouldn't be too bad. Most of his family did often say that he barely ever left the house, which was true for the most part. It would be a learning experience to, being able to get on with life without direct family influence. Lessons on how to fend for yourself could only take you so far after all.

Still… for the first time since coming back, the magus in training let his eyes wander away from the form his sister had signed him up for. His workshop wasn't exactly something most other magi would expect from someone of his age and pedigree.

Jun was a perfectionist at heart, but thus far, he'd yet to really perfect anything beyond the most basic of magecrafts. Whenever he was working on any project, for some reason or another, he'd always wind up getting distracted by a different theory to explore. It had gotten so bad over the years that he hadn't even managed to discover his elemental affinity yet. If he left for Okinawa, there was a good chance he wouldn't be able to make any progress in his magecraft at all.

Before he could dive any further in his thoughts, a loud explosion, followed by the shouts of his trigger-happy sister boomed throughout the mansion; the resulting vibrations throwing some of his previous unfinished works all over the place. The telltale sound of shattering objects told him that some of his still unfinished works now needed to be re-done from scratch; something he'd probably be too preoccupied to accomplish.

Turning a cursory glance towards the now broken objects, the brown haired magus sighed dejectedly_. "On the other hand, if I go to Okinawa, I'll have somewhere more peaceful to work at,"_ he though glumly, once more turning his eyes back towards the form.

_"Hmm… alright. Why not. After all, I might just get something out of it, and if I can get Riko-nee's prank to work out in my favour, then all the better."_

His final decision made, Jun grabbed the slip and went to inform his mother and father. _"Now comes the hard part: Convincing kaa-san."_

-X-

Just a forewarning for those who wish to venture ahead: The EC is set somewhere in the mid to late twenty-first century. As such, while much of Blood plus' aspects will be kept, a large portion of its history will be changed.

For those who still wish to continue, you are all welcome to do so. Those who do not, I respect your preferences, and kindly ask you to leave. Those who refuse to show mutual respect by leaving quietly, I will simply say this in advance: Get the #u(k out of here.


	2. Chapter 1: First Blood

I already said it, but again, I own very few things in this work. All I own is the concept of how everything will work.

Also, a second bit of forewarning: A few of Jun's traits have been taken from some of my favourite fictional characters. More specifically, how he fights. Do not be surprised if he starts doing things that you might've seen in old or recent movies.

From here, nearly everything will be shown from Jun's POV. Hope you all enjoy it.

**Blood + Emiya I: First Blood.**

Now that I was standing right outside of my new classroom, I had to admit that I was nervous. Having gone to the same school since being brought back to the Emiya manor, I had admittedly known little of the outside world. Oh, the general facts I was very much aware of, but actually experiencing them was something that happened very rarely.

In truth, the only person back home who could claim that they spent less time outside than me was Souhiro, and even then, only on average per year. In short, many could say that, amongst my siblings, I was the most sheltered of all.

In other words, I never really had much of a chance to polish my social skills, so immersing myself into a new group of people wasn't going to be easy. Then again, that was probably the most of my troubles. There weren't really any notable reports concerning magical activity in the city, and the only major concern was some serial killer that was reportedly coming close to the area. A concern that I wanted to nip in the bud myself if possible, but not one I would really need to worry about.

Even if I wasn't among the more combat inclined members of the family, I still saw a lot of their fights and spars. To most, this may not have been enough, but most everyone in the family knew that if I had one talent, it was in analysis of a situation. Though I had little practice, a bit of reinforcement and application of what information I did know about combat was good enough insurance for me to deal with ordinary criminals.

Yes, things around here would definitely go off without a hitch.

From inside the class, I finally heard the teacher signalling me in. With a confident smile, I slid the door open, curtly yet politely… and promptly froze on the spot. It was faint. Very faint. But it was there nonetheless. A feeling of wrongness in the air.

Had I been at home, I would have easily never noticed it, having grown used to a similar, yet infinitely more potent sensation; Haru-nii-san and Altrouge-kaa made sure that. Which was why, when that familiar, indescribable feeling had hit me, I knew only one possible answer: a vampire.

Calming myself, I walked towards the teacher's desk; the momentary pause earlier barely even being noticed by anyone else. My body was on autopilot now, giving a cursory introduction, even as I scanned the room for the source of the power that had so worried me. In truth though, it was very unlikely that the vampire would be in a classroom. Perhaps somewhere else far away, only having appeared at the exact moment the door was opened.

And then I did pinpoint it's source -a girl with short, black hair and dull red eyes- sitting in the middle row, staring at me just as curiously as everyone else in the room. Really, I don't even know why I tried to rationalize the situation like that. As an Emiya, I should have already been used to the improbably being the most possible. One could probably even say that it was a constantly activated family marble phantasm.

Faintly, I heard the teacher giving me instructions on where to sit which, coincidentally -or rather, inevitably- right behind the black haired girl. Still, was a setup I didn't really mind. This way, keeping an eye out for her wouldn't be as hard as before. She'd likely sense my higher than normal level of od, but that as a small price to pay for this.

Taking full, conscious control of my body and nodding at the teacher's instruction, I walked to my assigned place, making sure to keep the girl's face in my line of sight for as long as I could. Unsurprisingly, she managed to notice, despite my trying to hide the act, looking at me with a genuinely curious expression.

That actually did manage to surprise me, though I didn't show it outwardly. Of all the things I expected from her, this certainly wasn't it. A suspicious or wary stare, a confident and superior smirk, maybe just a mean look. Hell, even ignoring me outright. All anticipated as possibilities, yet none of them occurring. It was as though she really didn't have any idea that I was a magus.

It baffled me completely as, throughout the day, the vampire girl -who I later learned was named Saya- had never once did anything which indicated knowledge of my being a mage. What's more, during lunch period, Saya and a group of her friends were even talking about a recent romance movie about vampires (which, for some reason, apparently included them sparkling of all things). This in itself wasn't weird. What was weird was that Saya actually said that vampires didn't exist.

Now for most novice magi, this may have been taken as part of her method to blend into the public, leaving the mystery as 'why she was integrating herself into the public'. She was certainly no Earthen vampire like Moka-nee and her family, so it made sense that such a question would be asked. After all, Moon vampires weren't known for socializing with humans.

To a magus with actual knowledge about vampires -both Moon and Earth- however, a vampire claiming that their species didn't exist would have triggered all sorts of alarm bells. Both the Dead Apostles and Methuselahs were too proud of their blood to ever say such a thing, regardless of the circumstances, and those who didn't fit into either wouldn't be capable of anything that this girl did. There was something wrong here. Very wrong.

By all accounts, this alone should have prompted me to contact the rest of the family. A vampire here, and with this weird of a situation couldn't be a good combination…

…

…

Yet… I didn't. Something this different… it intrigued the magus inside of me. Perhaps, later, once I figured out the mystery behind her odd mannerisms, I would contact them. For now though, I wanted to take this solo.

-X-

One week later…

Looking down at the sports field, I couldn't help but wonder how strange my time here in Okinawa had been so far. There were few things that ever truly kept my attention for too long. Most of my siblings even said that I had a minor attention deficit problem, considering how fast I could move from one project to another without finishing the last.

Yet, I seemed to be unable to get my mind off of the mystery most recently presented to me. Namely, Saya Otonashi, a unique -and apparently very weak- vampire, high school girl, and seemingly an aspiring athlete. A true paradox, as far as my knowledge was concerned.

Her magical signature, though unmistakably that of a vampire, was different from any other that I've ever felt. That I've only ever felt the signatures of Apostles like Altrouge-kaa and Methuselahs like Moka-nee didn't really do much to ease my confusion. Any other type of vampire was out of the question.

What's more, in the entire week that I've been observing her, she had never once shown any of the pride, strength, or even endurance that was expected from the rest of her race. In fact, one would say she was a very humble girl.

So many unsolved questions, and so many more that kept popping up. On the upside, I finally understood why it was that I could never keep to a single topic. Because everything else remained constant to the basics with everything else that I've worked on, they soon became boring. It would seem that nothing stimulated my mind more than a mystery where everything kept changing; always remaining beyond my understanding.

But that's topic for another time. Right now, I have to keep-

"You know, if you like Saya so much, you should really just talk to her. This whole 'observing' thing is getting kind of creepy."

For most normal people, having someone speak right behind you while you were distracted would have normally surprised you. For an Emiya, it was mostly the same, except most of us were really good at hiding it; which was probably why Koji -one of my new classmates- looked disappointed when I saw his face. That didn't stop me from making my distaste apparent.

"If you still believe that my interest in Otonashi-san is more than platonic and objective, then I will say again that you are wrong," I corrected for what felt like the hundredth time this week. Honestly, you'd think that guys couldn't be interested in girls in any other way but romantic or lustful.

"Hey, come one Jun, it's no big deal. It's not like there's anything to be shy about," Gin -another one of my new classmates- reassured (Not that there as anything to reassure to begin with), a wide and amused smile on his face. "Sure, Saya's a bit of a tomboy, but she's not half as bad most of the rest of em' are."

"Yeah. Plus, she's one of the hottest girls in our year," the third amongst my new circle of acquaintances -Ryuuji- added from behind me. I couldn't see his face, unlike the other two, but I was certain it was set in one of those grins that I often found on Kaien-nii whenever he was thinking about a date with one of his girls.

Sighing in annoyance, I managed to give a half-hearted glare at the trio of teens. "You know, I really wish you guys would stop disturbing me," I told them, not even waiting for an answer before turning back to the track field, just as Saya and her friend left. To have lunch, most likely, if those bentou are any indication. And just as it did every other time I'd seen her eat, the black haired girl's lunchbox truly puzzled me.

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask, but does Saya really eat that much all the time?" I inquired, looking over my shoulder towards the three other teens. Luckily, none of them seemed bothered by my previous comment to deny me an answer.

"Yeah. She does," Gin replied, giving a nod of affirmation. "Been like that since we've known her… not that we actually know her for very long."

Interest piqued at this sudden bit of information, I gave my ponytailed classmate a questioning look. "How long have you guys known her anyway?"

At first, they didn't give an answer, only glancing towards one another before simultaneously shrugging. "About one year," they chorused. That didn't exactly help, given that nothing had happened in Okinawa so far in the past year, but-

"Oh yeah, and get this," Koji suddenly added, derailing my train of thought, "Saya doesn't remember anything before what she'd been through the previous year."

Now _that_ got my attention "Some kind of amnesia?" I questioned, hoping to finally get somewhere in this peculiar mystery.

"That's what her doctor apparently said. Or at least, that's what I heard from Kai," Ryuuji confirmed, though he didn't look all that sure of himself. Considering what I'd gathered on the red headed senior and his relationship with Saya, I could probably guess why. "Then again, Kai isn't exactly the most truthful person when it comes to stuff like this."

Of course.

With a long, drawn out sigh, I turned back to watching the vampire girl. And wouldn't you know it, Kai had just told her they were going to the hospital. Despite myself, a thin smile formed on my lips.

With a hasty excuse to leave, I brought a hand to my uniform's neckline, channelling a small amount of od into it. Though I couldn't see, I felt the runes in place activate nonetheless.

One of the few things I actually completed, -most likely because it was done too quickly for me to get bored from the lack of new problems it presented- the runes placed on all my clothing were rather simplistic. The set of ancient characters formed a small boundary field around my body which exuded a subliminal command of acceptance. Simply put, so long as a feat was naturally humanly possible, anyone who saw me performing such acts would simply treat as something expected from everyday life and be disinterested.

Since running as fast as a motor bike was technically possible, -or at least, it should be, given the maximum speed it could probably reach while driving around Okinawa- no one would even bat an eye if I managed to keep up with it.

-X-

At the hospital…

Blood transfusions huh? Well, if there was no other proof now, this would definitely have convinced me in an instant. This girl was definitely no regular vampire. Unfortunately, that was about all I really learned in there, I thought to myself as I walked out of the clinic.

I found it rather ironic that, just seconds after thinking such things, I found myself under assault the same feeling I got from Saya. This one, however, was much stronger in comparison. Yet, paradoxically enough, I sensed a level of subservience from it; a quality Saya's aura most certainly did not produce.

Still, this begged investigation, and so I looked all around me, trying to pinpoint the source. I didn't have to wait long, as my ears picked up the sound of music -from a cello, if what he'd been thought of classical music as any indication- coming from in between a small crowd of people.

Behind them sat a man on a wood bench, calmly running his bow frog along the strings of the instrument. Unlike Saya though, it seemed that this man knew that I knew something, sending a very subtle yet nonetheless suspicious glance my way.

It would appear that I wasn't just about to lose my lead yet.

-X-

Later, night time…

I never really thought about it much, but one of the perks of being in a rich family was that you tended to have a lot of property. Right now, it was only thanks to that that I can continue my studies as a magus. Though having to live in a beach house did tend to attract a bit of attention. Still, it was better than that offer to stay with a volunteering family.

Of course, unlike most of my other (mostly abandoned out of disinterest) attempts at, the only thing I could do with the problem set in front of me was lean back in a chair and look at a filled up bulletin board. Luckily, no one else was privy to it. After all, having a good portion of the wall covered with pictures and notes on a single person didn't make for the most positive of impressions. Particularly when the owner of said wall was a guy and the subject in question was a teenage girl.

Still, most would probably be more freaked out by the insane number of theories and tangents of information, either still left unconfirmed or crossed out for being false. That they all had to do with vampirism would almost assuredly give any none magi the impression that I as a loon.

Still, in cases such as this it was necessary. Shaking my head to rid it of whatever stray thoughts remained, I began pooling all the facts I'd recently learned.

As I'd concluded long ago, Saya was doubtlessly a vampire. However, she possessed none of the full defining traits of either a Dead Apostle, or a Methuselah. She was clearly no ghoul or undead, being completely physically and mentally healthy. Or at least, more mentally healthy than any of the lesser vampires could ever be.

That brought up one of my most recent discoveries: Saya had amnesia, and couldn't remember anything from before she was adopted into the Miyagusuku family. Now, I was no medical expert by any means; a passable chiropractor perhaps, but had very little knowledge in the biochemical and psychological workings of the, however, I did know enough to deduce that Saya had likely suffered something extremely traumatic a year prior. Most amnesia cases were due to that, and those who lost as many years of memories -and likely much more, given the fact that vampires tended to age slowly whenever they wanted to- were almost always in that category.

So that left one question: What could possibly traumatise a vampire so much that they'd forget their past? Certainly, even vampires weren't fearless, but to be put through something that gave her amnesia just didn't seem possible. And for that matter, did she really have amnesia?

What was the story behind Saya's past? Why did she feel so different from other vampires? Why is she here in Okinawa, and how had she remained undetected for so long? So many bits and pieces; each one a mystery in its own right, all culminating into a much larger question.

"Then, there's this guy," I muttered out loud, sticking a new picture on the wall that showed a pale skinned man playing a cello on the street; his face in the middle of a red circle with a question mark on top. "He has nearly the same signature as Saya, so it's possible that he became a vampire because of her but… that just doesn't make sense."

I found myself saying and thinking those lines a lot lately, so it really didn't have as much of an impact on me as it had the first time. Though I was getting more and more tired of hearing myself say it. With a tired sigh I decided that, for tonight, enough was enough and promptly exited from my workshop. Besides, it was time I got some exercise in anyway. All the settling in and observing didn't really give me much time in the week work out.

-X-

"Well, this certainly isn't my definition for working out, but I'm not complaining," I mumbled silently, watching carefully as Saya made to try and clear the school gates. I wasn't sure if my luck really had turned or if the Root was just trying to set me up so it could me over, but this kind of opportunity didn't just present itself often.

I couldn't just feel Saya's power, that cello player from earlier was near here as well. Something was going to happen tonight, and I'm going to find out what it is. My goal set, I continued to watch on until Saya finally managed to get herself over the main gate.

Running over to the wall, I filled my legs with as much od as I could handle before -after making a quick check to make sure no one would see me- jumping clear over the barrier. From how she ran, it was likely that Saya should have been in no position to see me by then. Sure enough, she was already running towards the field.

Unfortunately, there was someone else also there already, and though I couldn't see him, -who I knew was the cellos player from earlier, from the feel of his aura- I was sure that he'd already seen me. Still, I sensed no ill intent coming from him, so I suppose I could just continue to lay low.

I followed quickly, making sure to make as little noise as possible and reinforcing my eyes to better see the upcoming events; hiding myself behind a pillar once she had finally taken notice of the other vampire. What happened after that could only be described as a scene from an overly cliché slasher film, as the stoic vampire brandished what looked to be a small dagger.

Now, in most other situations, my prediction would have been that Saya would have started screaming and running away. Of course, as she was a vampire, even if she was very weak I fully expected her to stand firm and fight. On instincts alone if she truly did have amnesia, perhaps, but fight nonetheless.

Yet, despite that, I wasn't really all that surprised when she started panicking and ran away. In fact, despite that she completely ran past the pillar I was hiding behind without even noticing me, I wasn't even fazed. The suddenly much closer proximity of the other vampire on the other hand…

"Who are you? Why do you follow Saya?" the cello playing vampire asked from behind me, his tone somehow being both impassive and interrogative at the same time. Despite my panic, I made sure to keep my body in complete control, not even so much as twitching in surprise. Living with Riko tended to have a lot of benefits to it.

Turning around to face the stoic man, I could honestly say that I truly was intimidated. Not only did he radiate a level of power that I as certain I wasn't ready to fight off, he was also physically very imposing. The guy was at least a head taller than him, and the coffin shaped case on his back -which otherwise would have looked ridiculous- further adding to his imposing figure.

Still, I was a magus, and if death came upon me during my research, then I would gladly accept it. It was with that thought in mind that I gave my reply: "Jun Emiya, and why I follow her is my business. What about you?"

Whether or not he was willing to answer back, I wasn't sure, but from sound of approaching footsteps behind us, I likely wouldn't find out any time soon. Before I could so much as blink, the pale vampire grabbed my and, faster I could register, had pulled me into a classroom via one of the windows.

A bit disgruntled, but still with most of my wits about me, I simply gave the cello player a momentary glare before turning my attention (something which I was certain Kaa-san would scold me about had she known about it) towards the light that slowly began to approach the tree that Saya was heading towards earlier; fairly certain that he had no intention to harm me. If memory of my initial entry was correct, it was probably that one teacher in the office, accompanied by Saya, considering the distinctive sounds of two pairs of feet.

My main focus wasn't on that though. It was on something else. Another feeling on my skin, similar in kind to Saya's and the other vampire standing beside me, yet also inexplicably distinct. It felt stronger than Saya's, yet much weaker than the cello player, not to mention sending a chill down my spine that practically screamed feral.

Frantically, my eyes scanned the outside for the source, not fining much luck in actually finding anything… then I heard an audible thud from the direction of the tree, followed by a frightened scream. Now on high alert, I turned back towards its location to be greeted by the sight of… something… biting the English teacher by the neck.

I felt myself freeze at that moment, unsure as to whether I should jump down there and help the female vampire, or just stay back and watch. When Saya started running though, the Emiya part of me made its own decision.

Looking around for anything to use as a weapon, my eyes landed instantly on fake skeleton stand, identifying the room I was currently in to be the biology lab. Grabbing the object, along with a few scalpels placed on some trays, I jumped out of another window, noting the shocked look on the cello player's face. True, it was early impossibly hard to notice, but I _have_ lived with Koyuki-nee and Akitsu-kaasan for all my life.

The beast roared just as I landed on the pathway's roof, a horrible bellow that would've rattled my nerves if I hadn't been in full-on battle mode. Instead, it simply gave me enough time to formulate a plan. The world seemed to slow around me as I entered that state of mind, preparing myself for combat. Each step of the battle ahead flashed through my mind.

The vampiric creature, though clearly strong and possibly quite fast, also seemed to act completely on instinct. No better than one of Kiri-nii's weaker recipes. Procedure?

_First, over-reinforce the string connecting the fake skeleton and the stand while swinging toward the beast, throwing the model to get its attention. Then, as soon as it turns towards me, drop down to the ground while reinforcing the stand and my body. Wait for the initial attack to dodge back._

_If a downward strike, hold the stand by the base and thrust to prompt a parry with the opposite arm, then switch to a sword grip and swing towards the eye opposite to the countering arm. If a sideward strike, use a spear grip and drive the stand towards the attacking arm to force a backhand. Absorb the force to go into a 540 degree spin, hitting eye opposite to the back hand arm before finally landing in a crouching position. In both cases, over-reinforce the tip of the stand in order to shatter it on impact._

_Jump away as it backpedals and throw a scalpel at its other eye. Once out of the way and the opponent is fully blinded, switch grip on the stand to allow for an overhead smash to the skull. Disorientated, and with the last attack coming from above, it should leave the lower part of its body unguarded. Capitalize by impaling at the abdomen._

_Slide between the legs to get behind it, then use the protruding end of the improvised spear as leverage to stay behind it. Finally, reinforce two scalpels to cut the outer part of the neck, then pull off head._

_If successful, the beast should, at least, be neutralized long enough while recovering to make a getaway_

My plan set and time itself seemed to return to normal. Despite the situation, I couldn't help but smile as the entire fight already played itself in my head before I even reached the ground for the second step. Not counting the spars with siblings and the occasional ambush from local gangs on my way home, this would be my first fight alone, but I was more than certain verything would go according to plan.

The beast made for downward swing with its right as soon as my feet touched the ground, giving me just enough time to dodge. Making sure to fit my arm in between two of the legs on the stand, I made the first feint. As expected, the beast swiped it away with its left, leaving its other side open. One broken stand later and of its eye sockets completely torn, with bits and pieces of metal sticking out.

It took a step backwards, roaring in pain. All the better. Physics calculations went through my head before it even shut its mouth. Once it finally did, it only took half a second before the purloined scalpel found its mark, causing the bestial vampire to take another step back.

It growled in apparent frustration before lumbering forward, arms swiping randomly, forcing me to dodge the assault. It delayed my initial strategy, but with no amount of subtlety in its attacks, finding the perfect time for a jumping smash to the head was more than easy enough to accomplish.

Fortunately, this time the beast retaliated in much the same way as I'd predicted, giving me the perfect opportunity to run it through with the jagged tipped, broken skeleton stand. Unfortunately, it also followed my other expectation of still being alive.

Swiftly sliding between its legs and making a quick about face, I wasted no time before jumping on top of the improvised spear as though it was one of those brooms that the British 'wizards' were so fond of. Another pair of scalpels were already out of my pockets and into my hands as I plunged them where a normal man's Adam's apple was located, holding on tightly as blood-sucking beast thrashed about.

"Wha- What the hell is that!"

Someone shouted suddenly, momentarily distracting me. I realized a little too late how fatal that was as the vampiric beast spun wildly, dislodging one of the scalpels from its neck and effectively making me lose my grip. Another stronger spin after that sent me flying away, my head colliding head first into a all.

The last things I saw after that was a frightened Kai Miyagusuku beside an equally scared Saya.

-X-

And here ends the first chapter. Hope you all liked it. Reviews would be appreciated, though I'll warn you all now that suggestions for upcoming chapters will most likely be ignored. Or at least the ones which will have an effect before Yanbaru will be. Everything else might be considered, though unlikely.


	3. Chapter 2: Mysterious Vampires

The Emiya Clan is a shared ownership world based off of various works from different manga artists, as well as the fanfics, In Flight by Gabriel Blessing. Blood plus doesn't belong to me either.

**Blood + Emiya II: Mysterious Vampires**

The feeling of my body being dropped onto concrete was what woke me up from my enforced slumber. It wasn't that hard to figure out what happened. My head hurt like hell and the distinctive coppery smell of blood was splashed somewhere on my clothes. I didn't have any other injuries besides a slight bump on my head either so it could only have been that I was knocked out in some battle.

What I had been fighting took me a few more seconds to recollect, but I remembered enough before I even sat up. The blood on my shirt was from when I blinded that… 'thing', so all in all, I didn't have any injuries to worry about.

The angry shouting of another person-Kai Miyagusuku, I concluded from how it matched the one that distracted me- was very much unappreciated though. Angry shouting was not something I looked forward to when recovering from unconsciousness, especially if the aforementioned state was caused via a blow to the head. Too damn annoying to deal with.

Still, that didn't change the fact that I was still possibly in danger, so by the time I opened my eyes, I'd already gone into full analysis mode. Sure enough Kai was there, shouting at the cello playing vampire. Deciding to tune that out as best as I could, my eyes wandered off to who was, as of recently, my most usual curiosity.

Saya was laid done beside her adopted brother, unconscious and covered in even more blood than I was. The way it was splashed on her skin indicated the source having been cut clean through horizontally in front of her, near her chest level. I couldn't be certain, but it seemed the vampire girl was proficient with a sword. I had to wonder why she was currently knocked out though.

The cello player standing beside her prone form was mostly relaxed despite the apparently tense situation, only giving me a brief glance to acknowledge my return to the waking world. Kai had his back turned to me and hadn't noticed me yet, something I took immediate advantage of, sneaking away as best as I could.

I never stopped analyzing everything around me though. I could hear the sound of helicopter rotors two buildings over, which was quickly identified by the relative surrounding to be Koza high school. Wanting to get a better view of what was going on, I quickly reinforced my legs and jumped up onto the roof of the taller building beside the one we were currently on.

I didn't waste a single second, running towards one of the buildings opposite Koza high. Thankfully, this one's roof was on the same level as the one I was on now. That only left the tallest building, in front of the one I woke up on.

The distance as only by a single floor, as opposed to the two floor difference earlier, so clearing it wasn't hard either. Dealing with what I saw on the school grounds however, would definitely be a problem.

It was hard to see anything beyond vague movements in the dark and the beastly corpse, even with reinforced eyes, but that in itself was a clue. The people down there were garbed in camouflage clothing, and most likely working with night vision goggles if they were able to move so fluidly. The presence of helicopters above and trucks on the road below gave them away entirely: The military was here, and very likely to be trying to obtain the corpse of the monster from earlier.

Now normally, I would've just let this one go. After all, it was very much likely that the beast would only be seen as some form of science experiment gone wrong. Contrary to popular belief, militaries had more of a tendency to deny the supernatural, as opposed to accepting it and hiding everything from public eyes. The small bit of shiny protruding steel at the vampiric monster's abdomen, however, gave me pause.

My fingerprints were all over those things, and I was more than certain they'd examine it when trying to find out what the thing was. Any connections to me could only end badly. The evidence had to be destroyed.

A plan of attack began running through my head. I couldn't remain discreet about this, much to my misfortune. That didn't mean I had to rush in there and reveal myself to them though.

Even as I continued planning, my right hand had already gone to my pocket in search of the remaining scalpels I still had with me. In my left hand, my magic circuits became more active. "Compose material," I muttered to myself as od began to coalesce outside of my body, forming into a solid object.

Gradation Air. One of the few thaumaturgical skills I truly managed to master. The ability to temporarily transform one's od into a solid object. Normally, it was only for such things as to create sacrificial items for rituals. A generally useless form of magecraft branching off from reinforcement that created a quickly fading object. Of course, no one, not even Tou-san, who had created the more advanced 'tracing' version, ever thought to use it like I did. They likely would have also been confused if they'd seen me using it now to make a small log as thick as my arm.

With purposeful strokes, I carved a pair of symbols into the bark, reinforcing it and then setting it aside before repeating once more. In no more than five minutes I'd already stacked up quite a few traced and marked pieces of what could only be called firewood.

Each and every piece was reinforced well past their maximum capacity and, with enough force, would shatter back into nothingness… well, except for the parts with the runes inscribed on them. Those were left untouched and would remain long after the others broke. If, of course, you considered a fraction of a second to be 'long', considering the runes involved.

Anzus and Tiwaz. I never bothered to understand the hows or whys concerning it, but for some reason, a combination of those two runes would produce an explosion. Graft it onto an object you could throw and find a way to detonate it and you'd have a magical grenade in your hands. Not special in the least, but certainly effective, if you knew how to properly use it.

This particular rune combination, just like any other, required a specific stimuli to activate: contact with raw prana identical to what was used to create or inscribe it. This made it difficult to work with as one would have to be able to get the amount of odd needed to be poured into it just perfectly for it to be effective.

That was fine. Perfection was something I strived for, and despite the number of times that disinterest had stopped me, it also eliminated every other possibility but one. I had perfected everything else.

The sound of revving engines alerted me to the company's retreat. With a quick cursory glance, I made a second count at the number of vehicles I had to deal with: a helicopter, two trucks and what looked to be a military ambulance between them. Beside me were a dozen rune inscribed logs. More than enough.

Grabbing the piece at the very top of the pile, I reinforced my arm as much as I could before tossing the piece of wood at the helicopter. Despite the strong winds produced by the propellers, the improvised weapon's weight, along with my own forceful throw managed to get it to hit the vehicle.

On impact, most of the log disintegrated back into od, scattering into the air. The only piece of the projected wood left, a piece of bark with two runes on it that soon began to glow. Then it exploded, the burst of concussive force causing the helicopter to veer out of control and leaving a dent as big as Primy's full sized head on its side, telling me that my runes had worked perfectly.

I'd thrown a second log already, before the company's confusion could be quelled, aiming for the same helicopter's rotor as it hovered inches above the school roof. The blast that followed left it grounded, its occupants evacuating at a fast pace, just in time to get out before a third log reduced the vehicle to scrap metal.

By then, shouts of alarm and panic began to rise from the group below. As expected, they didn't anticipate an attack during this operation, or at least not one like this. Another advantage for me to exploit, it seemed.

Grabbing two more logs, I threw them on top of the two trucks below, flattening the roofs of both, before following it up with two more explosions to the front and rear of the company. It was a warning shot, one that the drivers quickly took heed of and made them evacuate the vehicles. Another pair flew soon after that, this time hitting the engines of both trucks directly.

If anybody within the area was incapable of hearing, the towering infernos that the last two makeshift bombs made would've certainly gotten their attention. It also happened to have scared the ambulance drivers out of their station, leaving me free to destroy it without having to feel guilty.

With everything on the ground set ablaze, there was little chance that any evidence pointing to me would be found. That left only one thing to do. In a manoeuvre that I'm certain would have made Keiko-nee proud, I threw all the remaining logs one after the other around the formation of soldiers, momentarily keeping them from making any moves.

Satisfied, I made a break for it while I still could, running back and jumping down towards the building I'd woken up on. Kai and Saya were already gone, the (debatably) older of the two probably having taken her away already. Another running leap proved this true as I saw the redheaded teen carrying the girl on his back some distance away.

It would seem that the guy didn't dawdle when his family was hurt or in trouble, a trait that I could honestly say I respected. Still, I couldn't get distracted either. My attack on them was risky, and though unlikely to be connected to magic, the association -and worse yet, my _mother_- would still hunt me down if I'd been connected to this.

Still, it was an exciting night, that was for certain.

-X-

"This is the scene of the crime." The newswoman on screen announced as I lounged in my chair, staring up at the bulletin board once more. Here and there were a couple few new notes on both Saya and the cello player, but otherwise, it remained the same.

"It was reported to the US military base last night that a suspect relating to the series of random murders that occurred in the district this month had been found at Koza high school. Upon arrival however, the suspect -Private first class Charles Hatcher of the United States Navy, 21 - was already found dead, along with one of the local teachers, Inamire Junichiro."

I found myself smirking at that bit of news. It seemed that whatever it was that was out there last night, the military wanted to keep it to themselves, which meant they wouldn't be doing anything too overt to find out what had happened. It was almost too good to be true, actually. Of course, normally, when that was the case, the situation really is too good to be true, and there was always something lurking in the shadows trying to catch you unguarded.

"The military speculates that the setup was likely the work of a terrorist group, as upon departure, the entire company that was sent in were attacked via explosives."

That time when all the worst chefs the family had known of got together for example. They went and attempted to make something for thanksgiving together and, for the first few minutes, almost looked like they succeeded… that is to say, if they were too naïve or distracted by the fact that their normal sized turkey had grown to nearly match the size of the entire _main_ kitchen. Still, it actually looked edible at first, so I suppose they had a right to be happy.

"Though there were no casualties, and very few were injured, the bodies of both private Hatcher and Inamire Jun'ichiro were destroyed in the assault. A great amount of damage was also suffered by the surrounding area, forcing the military to keep it clear of civilians until just recently."

Then, before anyone could do anything, the entire 'meal' burst with over a thousand jello tentacles (I still wonder to myself what made them put jello in there in the first place), and sprouted a bird skull, broccoli tree, a giant cranberry and for some reason, a slice of pie as heads before going on a rampage. It took nearly eight hours just to take that thing down, even after Keiko was given access to her Gundam.

"Thus far, the US military has refused to divulge any more information concerning the situation. Many of the people living near the area here the attack occurred have become greatly worried over what could possibly happen in the future, and were only further alarmed by their refusal to give a solution."

It surpassed even the first KTC-Omega, Eggnog Ragnaros, AKA the Hades Zero-eldritch lord prototype, or H0 that Kiri had created during… _THAT_ incident. Root I still shivered at the thought of it… the incident, not the H0. It was for that reason that the titanic beast had been dubbed the Hades 1000-prime eldritch lord, or HK, after Kiri had started weaponizing his… strange culinary talent. Personally, I was just glad that the H2K, H3K and H4K weren't nearly as powerful.

A sudden loud knocking at the front door of the beach house brought me out of my musings. Who could possibly be all the way here at this time of night? With a sigh of frustration, I got off my chair, picked up the remote, and turned off the mini TV I'd kept in my workshop before exiting the heart of my thaumaturgy and locking it down; physically _and_ magically. Despite my earlier self asked question, I knew full well just what kind of person would visit me at this time: someone who knew about my involvement in last night's incident.

Whether they were magi, or from the US military base, or possibly -though unlikely- both, I needed to prepare myself for a fight. Luckily for me, I'd already arranged everything in the house to give me a quick advantage in any situation, just in case something like this happened. Some people who knew of that would probably call me paranoid for doing so. They'd be right, but then again, unlike most, I _did_ have a reason. A magus always had to walk with death, after all.

In the end, all I had to do before opening the door was reinforce my body. What greeted me on the other side wasn't exactly what I expected. He was tall man, blonde, and clearly foreign, and could certainly be from the US military's outpost. Rather than wear the uniform of someone from the army though, he was wearing a simple black blazer, matching pants and tie, and white undershirt. Formal, but still combat capable.

That didn't mean I let my guard down though. You didn't need Kyon-nii's level of common sense to figure out that this guy could still be from the army base. Add to the fact that his general posture, build, and the creases on his clothes indicated that he was fit, armed and well trained, and the guy made for a very intimidating appearance… to a normal person, anyway. This guy has nothing against the mess we had to clean after destroying that mystic washer.

"Johnathan Emiya?" he asked, though it sounded more like a statement than an actual question. I nodded my head in affirmation. "We've been told that you were at Koza high school yesterday, prior to the terrorist attack close to the area last night. I'm going to have to ask you to come with me." His words came out cold and tempered, but clearly he wasn't capable of keeping his emotions in check as Keiko-nee's not-boyfriend. The way he said the words 'terrorist attack' was different in tone to the rest of his sentence, as though he doubted the credibility of such a statement.

That was enough of a hint for me to know a key fact. "You aren't from the military," I told him, making sure to drive it home that I wasn't just guessing. When he glared back, I knew immediately that I was right. "Whoever you are, I have no reason to come with you, so please, just leave."

That said, I made to close the door on his face, fully knowing that it wouldn't be enough, yet still holding on to the small chance that it would. It came as no surprise at all that he stopped the door with his foot. Frustrated, I sighed in annoyance, relaxing my posture just the slightest bit.

As the blonde man pushed on the door -not enough to pry it open when I held it there, thought that was likely subject to change soon- my mind was already going overdrive. There was a small lump where the bottom of his ribcage, a nearly impossible to spot sign of a weapon; clearly a gun. I'd have to get rid of that first, but while I knew he was well trained, I knew next to nothing about how he fought.

This week looked like it was shaping up to be the second most exciting week of my life.

Reaching out with the hand he couldn't see, I grabbed the first of the many weapons I'd prepared in my current home. Once I got I good grip on it, I stopped forcing the door closed, and instead threw it open, ready to start another confrontation

It was time to gather data.

I saw the blonde man's eyes widen for a second as I swung the small feather duster at him. More likely the act was just as much out of incredulity as it was surprise, but I didn't care. I never even used this duster to clean in the first place. Instead, it was coated in pepper and made precisely for this situation.

It also happened to be a mystic code that projected a curse which brought primal compulsions to the fore, which, of course, ended with the man by the door suddenly covering his nose as he sneezed. Despite its simplicity and uselessness in the eyes of most magi, I found its application of subtle thaumaturgy to bring about a favourable reaction to be very handy.

Throwing the duster aside, I grabbed my opponent by the shoulder and pulled him in, bringing half his torso past the door frame before slamming the door down. Rather than get pinned though, he actually managed to resist the curse and managed to regain his balance, stopping the improvised pincer in its tracks.

I didn't even bother to try again. Instead, I grabbed the coat rack beside the entrance before dodging to the side as the door was swung back . Turning quickly, I thrust the intricately designed piece of furniture at the blonde trapping his arm inside, just he aimed his gun at me.

That alone told me that he was neither a magus, nor was he ordered to bring me in alive. Quickly twisting, then flicking the rack upwards by the base, my opponent was forced to relinquish his gun to the air as his wrist was bent back; not enough to break or fracture anything, but the pain would have forced nearly anyone to drop whatever they were holding.

Disarmed, I went for a more aggressive offence, tossing the rack outwards to force one hand away before attempting a side kick to the abdomen. It wasn't to be though he grabbed the offending leg and trapped it in his arm before pulling me in, throwing a haymaker with his now free hand.

Rather than try to lock it though, I let myself fall to the ground, making sure to keep my caught leg from being injured. Reaching out as fast as I could, I managed to grab the discarded gun -a simple handgun who's name escapes me despite seeing it in Keiko-nee's room before- and aiming it back at him.

The blonde stopped cold at the sudden turn of events, freeing my leg and bringing his hands up as if in surrender. I wasn't fooled though. He still kept his stance, the left side of his body angled diagonally away from me. It was too perfect for a counterattack should I try to get up. A simple and quick kick to my gut before I could should would have been all that was needed.

Of course, I didn't want to kill him. not yet, at least. It was a hunch, but I was fairly certain this guy knew something about Saya. After all, who else could his information have come from but her and Kai? This guy knew them for sure, though whether they were left alone or locked up was something I wouldn't find out if he died. Granted, I didn't need to find out, but there was a possibility that the mystery I'd most recently been unravelling would get out of my reach if I didn't.

A loud bang rang through the beach house as I shot the gun, the blonde man dodging to the side. Not that he really needed to. I may not have used a gun since that one time Touma cajoled me into joining him under Keiko-nee's training when I wanted to start his lessons early, but I could still aim one to miss easily. It was getting the thing to look like it might have killed him that was the difficult part, but that worked out too.

Rolling away at the opposite direction, I sprung to my feet; removing the pistol's cartridge mid roll and kicking it away before throwing the gun at my opponent. He dodged it rather easily, which was to be expected given everything he'd done so far. That wasn't much of a concern anymore though. I'd already managed to figure out the way he fought in that short scuffle.

The guy had no set martial arts style, but he was proficient enough in hand-to-hand combat to not be called a layman. There were no preferences on the type of attacks, nor was there any to throws and the like. A better honed form of the same basic combat taught in militaries. American, most likely, if I had to guess judging by his looks.

Perhaps I was wrong about this guy, and that he really was from the military. Either way, it didn't matter though. I already have enough to work with. Taking a quick glance around my surrounding, I planned out the rest of the upcoming fight. There were about to meters between us, which made it very likely that I'd rolled further than expected. There was a flower vase near him that was bereft of any flora, the coat rack from earlier was near my feet and a couch was behind me.

Perfect. Now all I had to do was-

"David, are you okay in there!" a voice called from outside, and I almost cursed myself for not fully thinking this through. Of course he'd have backup, and with that gunshot, they'd most likely been alerted to the fact that things hadn't gone according to plan. After all, they wouldn't have bothered knocking at the door if they simply wanted me dead.

Thinking quickly, I kicked the coat rack off the ground, catching it in an underhand grip before bringing it up higher and throwing it like a javelin. It forced the blonde -David, apparently- to dodge once more, giving me enough time to get to one of the windows and throw it open. Then, in a move that would have been befitting a Jackie Chan movie, I slid out the window to the veranda that surrounded the beach house.

Right below, a rather hefty African American man spotted me, looking surprised… or at least, I assume that is was surprise. I couldn't really tell because of the sunglasses he was wearing… at night. Trying not think about what was wrong with the clearly not blind man, I used the railings on the veranda as a stepping board to launch myself to a window on the second floor. A quick climb later found me on top of the Emiya family's Okinawa residence.

Not to waste a single second, I began to run towards the direction of the road, jumping as far as my reinforced legs could bring me once I ran out of roof. It wasn't enough to cover the whole the distance, but another jump right afterwards got me up the road, clearing half the stairway in a single jump.

I could hear the plump man ordering me to come back as he gave chase, but I ignored it, naturally. Instead, I opted to run as fast as I could. I only hoped that my workshop was concealed well enough for them not to find it.

-X-

Next night…

Looking back, I really should have expected something like this to happen. I'm not sure whether the Root was preparing some big joke on me, or if my luck really had turned for the better, but it seemed as though these last few days were reserved solely for me to get deeper into my current project… okay, so I was mostly certain that it was the Root's doing, but even I could still hope that I was wrong.

After having been forced out of my own residence the previous night, I'd gone on to rough it out on top of one of the buildings closer inland which, fortunately, also had a small tool shed for me to use as shelter. When I came back the next day, it was to find that while my workshop likely hadn't been found, my temporary home was still under guard. Then, when I decided to go back to the same building, it was to see Saya and who was likely her adoptive father entering a house close by. If that wasn't enough, I also sensed a similar mystical signature to the monster from two nights ago approaching the same place.

Had I been less inclined to learn as much as I could about Saya, or a less observant person, then there was a good chance that a fight between me and the second vampiric beast would have started by now. However, I _was_ an observant person; one who had noticed that Saya had, in fact, finished the previous one off, and had also noticed that this one was much weaker than the last. More than that though, I _was_ inclined to learn as much as I could about Saya, and if there was a chance for me to finally see how she fought, then I was willing to risk a possible attack on a civilian.

After all, I may be an Emiya, but I was also born with the blood of a Barthomeloi. None action at this point may very well cost someone their life, but as long as the chance wasn't too high, I was willing to risk it. So I observed, standing on the edge of the roof of a building not a hundred meters away from the Saya's home.

A sudden chill went up my spine as the near silent whisper of displaced wind reached my ears. "I take it you're here to observe as well?" I inquired, keeping my cool as my eyes darted to the spot beside me. Where just seconds ago, there was empty space, now there stood the male vampire from last night. "I never did get your name, you know," I told him, wondering not for the first time how Kaa-san would react to my interactions with the vampires I'd met here in Okinawa.

"Haji," came his stoic reply, keeping his eyes on the house the entire time. It may have seemed cold, but I've been living with two not so talkative relatives for the better part of my life thus far, so I wasn't really offended. Besides, I now had a name to call him by and he wasn't even close to as much of a prick as that guy with a duck's ass for a hairstyle that I once saw from one of Kumako's manga.

The next few seconds of our time was spent in silence as we watched the cloaked monster knock on the door, an act that led me to deduce that whoever that was had yet to fully lose himself. Saya's father, though hesitant at first, had then allowed him in, so it was likely that they were prior acquaintances.

In less than a minute, the sound of gunshots rang through the air, followed soon afterward by Saya and her father running out of the building. That was more than enough of a sign for me to know that this confrontation wouldn't go as I'd hoped. To counter that, I began planning. A quick glance around me made it clear that I couldn't rely on simply turning something handy into a weapon. That meant that I had to project one which, while giving me better preference in what kind of weapon I needed, also put me at a disadvantage of needing to rely on a brittle weapon.

Even when reinforced to its fullest, an object created through Gradation Air would still only have nine tenths of what the original object's optimal durability was, and that was taking into consideration that the spell was used perfectly. Still beggars can't be choosers, and with that thought in mind, I began forming the weapons I'd need inside my head.

The sound of shattering glass brought me back to reality, turning my eyes just in time to see a blonde man -who I recognized was David a second later- slide down the side of the car he'd been slammed into. I got my first look at the culprit when the former human began stalking towards Saya and her father, a revolver which probably belonged to David being released from its jaw. For the most part, it still retained most of its human physical traits, unlike the last of its kind. The only real difference that I could see upon reinforcing my eyes were the red eyes and torn flesh on his elongated arms. Of course, the large claws that its hands had become made things pretty obvious.

With a guttural battle cry, the vampiric beast lunged at the father and daughter pair, who could do nothing but prepare for impact. Normally, I would've made a desperate act there and then, but a shift of movement from my side gave me pause. The very moment I'd figured out what happened was the same moment it came into occurrence, with Haji blocking the attempted strike towards the two targets before kicking the beast strong enough for it to land slam right into the building I was on top of.

I figured that it was time to make my move when Saya hesitated to accept the sword deposited to her hands. "Compose Material," I uttered my aria for Gradation Air, my od pooling around the ends of my hands as they morphed into physical shape: A pair of two sided short swords, no longer than sixteen inches, with a foot long blade, two inches wide, and one inch thick at the middle. They'd never compare to any blade traced by my father, but they would do.

With another transference of od, the pair of blades were reinforced as much as I could risk them. Taking a deep breath, I waited till the creature was in a good position for me to lunged down at it, using the same moment to reinforce my own body. A part of my mind began noting down the changes happening on what would inevitably become a battlefield, integrating them into the stratagem forming in my mind.

It would seem that Saya's adoptive father was taking the sword in her place. Definitely a liability, but hopefully not a big one. There were far too many unknown factors right now, making it impossible for me to make a complete plan, but I still needed to do this. With a quick step back, I jumped off the building, projected swords raised and ready to cut off the beast's arms, just as Saya's father swung with his own. I made no battle cry, nothing to alert the beast of my presence.

With any luck, only the beast's blood would be spilled tonight.

-X-

My attack landed just moments after Saya's father's own swing, the twin swords in my hands sinking significantly deeper into its skin, though still not enough to do much damage. With an enraged roar, the vampiric beast flailed wildly, likely trying to dislodge me, even as it's clawed hand struck the grey haired man in front of it, knocking him back and tearing deep gauges into his abdomen.

I simply went with the flow and, gripping the dual blades tightly, allowed myself to be thrown away, righting myself midflight as best as I could. Lack of frequent experience and practice prevented me from executing the move perfectly, but in the very least the attempt reduced the recovery time.

It was probably thanks to that that I avoided getting stabbed by the former human's now elongated claws. I wasn't so lucky with the follow up though. I don't know whether being turned into… whatever lower species of vampire it was just recently made it smarter than the one from school, or if it was just sheer dumb luck on the creature's part, but its reluctance to pull its other arm back made completely dodging the downward swipe from its left almost impossible to dodge. Even as I dove under its outstretched appendage to avoid the attack, it still managed to leave three bleeding slash marks on my right thigh, probably an inch deep each at the very least.

Trying to ignore the pain, I still couldn't quite stop myself from wincing as I put pressure on the wounded leg. Slipping into a more battle ready -if still a bit awkward- stance as the beast turned to face me, I readied myself for a second attack-

"Forest… why are you… doing this?"

Only for Saya's father to interrupt between pants of pain. I was a bit tempted to tell the injured man that this wasn't the same 'Forest' who he knew, but then I saw its eyes widening in shock. In a matter of moments, the beast's bloodshot eyes lost their crimson colour as horror began to fill its once more human countenance, a phenomenon which, by all accounts, should not have been possible, at least as far as I knew. But then, this wasn't like anything I knew of. It was a completely different species of vampire, and though the man before could very well be categorized as a dead apostle, he was still very different from anything I knew about.

"G… George?..." he muttered slowly, his shock giving way to fear as his eyes darted towards the injured man lying on the street. Slowly at first, then at a much faster pace, the vampire began backing up, his hands clutching the side of his head as though trying to hold something in. I had no trouble believing that that was precisely what he was doing. With a frightened scream, he turned completely and ran off, disappearing into the night.

I almost began to chase after him when the wound on my thigh began throbbing with pain, delaying me just long enough for the vampire to get away. It seemed that sometime during the little episode between Saya's father -George, apparently- and 'Forest', the adrenaline that had once been flowing through me had stopped; the pain from my injuries finally coming to the fore at full force. This, I realized, was not a good situation at all. What happened after that only served to make it worse.

"DAD!" the familiar voice of a certain redhead shouted as its owner ran towards the injured man. Turning towards the scene, I took the small moment when everyone was focused on George's injuries to disperse my projected blades, suppressing a sigh of relief when no one noticed… well, almost none. It was brief, but I was certain that Haji's eyes had flickered towards me as the swords dissolved to nothing in my hands. Thankfully, all he did afterwards was blur out of sight, a feat of sheer speed that impressed even me, despite already having expected it.

Of course, given that George was now unconscious, this brought all eyes towards me and injuries or no, I most certainly wouldn't be able to pull off the same stunt that the cello player did. Letting out a sigh of resignation, I decided to abandon avoidance completely and settled for the next best thing: damage control.

"I don't suppose any of you are willing to chalk this up as a guy just trying to be good citizen would you?" I asked sheepishly, performing the universal habit of scratching the back of your head during similarly unpleasant situations. I may not have known him at all beyond name and combat ability, but I was certain that the look David was directing at me did not bode well.

-X-

Hospital: one hour later…

"I told you already, I don't know anything about what's going on besides what I'd already witnessed," I reaffirmed, frowning at the men in front of my hospital bed, right next to the recovering George's. My injury didn't really warrant any need for one, but these two wanted me cornered and had the connections to keep me here. They weren't enough to stop me from trying to escape, but at this point, trying to resist might just bring more trouble down on me. Besides, it wasn't like I wasn't used to keeping secrets when questioned.

Sure, the only other people that did this kind of stuff were my friends at my old school, but the act of using full truths with omitted important details was something any magus learns to do in order to keep their experiments a secret. The way Tou-san, uncle Gil, and all of my Kaa-san's who were involved in the fifth holy Grails War seemed to be freaked out by how good I was at it always did make me curious though.

"Then how are you able to fight them so well?" the interrogation continued, David once more demanding an answer from me. On the other foot of my bed, the stout African American, Lewis, directed a patient stare at me. It really fit the classic 'Good cop, Bad cop' routine, now that I thought about it.

"I keep myself fit enough to react against any threats and previously had some combat training. Everything else is just me observing, adapting and improvising to keep myself alive," I answered back. Once more, there wasn't a single lie I my statement. That the 'adapting and improvising' parts also involved the use of magic was left out, but the answer itself as still completely true, if vague.

It wasn't enough though, and David made sure to show it, getting up from hi chair and dragging me by the neck of my shirt. "Bullshit!" he shouted angrily, glaring at me harshly, "there are soldiers that have been trained for years that can barely handle holding one of those chiropterans off with proper artillery, and you expect me to believe that a bit of training was enough for you to fight them off with a bunch of stuff you just pick up from nowhere?"

I was pretty sure that some of that rage came from wounded pride as well, but the thought didn't reach my expression, instead, I simply stared at him blankly, taking his arm by the wrist and forcing him to let go. "Yes, I do," I deadpanned, "you can choose whether or not you believe me, but I stand by my word when I say that I'm telling the truth. As for the inadequacy of your soldiers' training, all I can say is that they were probably never given good enough instructors."

That last retort might have been unnecessarily condescending, but like everything else, it was still mostly true. Sure, it may not have been much, but those times when Koyuki-nee's Ashikabi trained us, paired up with all of Kaa-san's own training and whatever I managed to observe from my siblings' spars and exercises made for enough of a defence to fend off these 'chiropterans', as they were dubbed. Case in point, the people who trained me were some of the best combat instructors in the world.

Of course in hindsight, I still probably got more training than some hobbyist would take in the same time span, but that was unimportant for the moment.

Back to the interrogation, I was fairly certain that this was the part where David would try another question, only to be 'interrupted' by his partner, who would then ask me the same thing in a kinder manner. Before my hunch could be confirmed though, the door to mine and George's room burst open as a boy who I could only assume was Saya's younger brother barged in, panting heavily and looking very distressed.

"Kai's going after Forest!" he shouted, looking straight at the blonde haired foreigner. Saya stepped into view right behind him moments later, her panicked visage a near perfect match of the preteen boy's own. Both of my interrogators' expressions changed near instantly as they stood from their seats. With the air of a professional, they escorted the two into the hallway and closed the door behind them; David sending me a parting glare right before it was shut. A soft 'click' later, and they'd effectively locked me here with no way to sneak out.

Were I a more vindictive person, I probably would have scoffed at the thought of being contained like this. I was Riko's third favourite victim when it came to her pranks, right behind uncle Gil and Kyon-nii; something she said was due to my observation skills being the second toughest challenge she faced (the first being Kyon's common sense), as I seemed to be able to instinctively notice even the smallest changes that happened around me whenever I wasn't distracted. If a situation as simple as being locked in a room on the fifth floor of a hospital with a door that could only be unlocked via key, and with no materials to escape with gave me trouble, I wouldn't be able to survive to this day.

The only thing that kept me from leaving already was my still aching leg. There wasn't any permanent damage, but the large cuts, while already having been patched up, still hurt a bit. Walking wasn't really a problem anymore, but if I'd have a lot of trouble trying to run, jump or fight. Add to that my lack of talent in medical thaumaturgy and I found myself in a tough spot. At best, I could use the most basic of healing spells to seal them up faster, maybe reinforce the thread used to keep them from opening, but I'd still need to wait for a day at the very least before trying to put any excessive pressure on it.

That said, it didn't mean that I was going to stay here, only that I'd wait for long enough until I was sure that the two that kept me here had already left to find Kai.

-X-

With no energy to spare on my concealing runes, it had taken an entire thirty minutes of waiting, hiding from medical personnel who might have had something to do with the group monitoring Saya, and then sneaking out of the hospital from a room in the second floor of the hospital, but I was finally back on the Okinawa rooftops. Taking extra care to only apply minimum pressure on my injured leg, I flitted from rooftop to rooftop searching for the chiropteran that had caused my injury to begin with.

I wasn't stupid enough to do this so I could fight it though, not as I am now. In fact, I didn't want to fight it at all. What interested me was how Saya was going to respond to this. Okinawa isn't that big of a prefecture, and if you try hard enough, it was very easy to find someone, even without the help of high end technology. Just a bit of determined detective work is all it would take. Kai would find Forest soon enough, I was certain, just as I was certain that Saya would find Kai. How those two encounters would play out, the condition of Saya's brother, and the conclusion of the fight could go either way, but above all, one thing was sure to happen: Death would be visiting Okinawa tonight, and I was going to be there when it did.

I admit, I wouldn't normally have been that confident in my tracking abilities, but considering the fact that I heard the chiropteran's roar just moments earlier from the same direction I'd been headed, I really considered myself lucky. Well… either that, or the Root was baiting me in for something big. Still, though I usually ignored the old 'never look a gift horse in the mouth' saying, I decided to just follow my current lead. It paid off when I felt Saya's and Haji's presence just moments later.

Getting there before them became a bit of a difficulty, given Haji's speed. Compounded with my own injury and the challenge proved too much for me. Still, I did manage to reach the location of the beast: an abandoned warehouse by the docks, a small hole on the large metal doors acting as the only entrance. How cliché, yet oddly appropriate.

The sound of battle was already ringing in the air. No longer willing to waste a second, I slipped under the hole, trying not to aggravate my injuries in my pursuit to view the battle at hand. The feeling of power wafting off of both Saya and her bestial opponent were stronger this time, the former sending a chill f instinctual fright I hadn't felt since leaving home.

I had my suspicions before, but now it was doubtless. Though she didn't use all of it, Saya was unmistakably stronger than Haji, and from the way he acted around her, I wouldn't be surprised if Haji had been turned into a vampire by Saya in the first place.

The vampire girl's eyes were glowing an eerie red now as she swung her katana at the monstrosity before her. It too had changed, now resembling a gigantic humanoid bat with the head of a man, its skin having turned to the pale grey of death to match its ashen-brown body. It would seem that thus far, the beast had been able to hold its own, managing to dodge or block its smaller opponents attacks with jumps and claw swings.

Still, it was easy to tell that the fight would end soon. The air practically hummed with the finality of the battle, and with the odds stacked against it, it was likely that the chiropteran that was once Forest would be put out of its misery.

A small overextended swing from Saya, the beast's block and upcoming attempted retaliation, and Haji's immediate reaction heralded the final few moments of the fight. With speed that rendered him nothing but a blur, the stoic cello player left his previous perch in the rafters and landed in front of the vampiric beast, knocking it back with a swing of his cello case.

Saya was quick to press her advantage, shifting into a more prepared stance and… cutting her palm with her sword? That was… different. Before I could voice my confusion over her self-damaging actions, the vampire girl seemed to go and answer it for me, charging at the recovering chiropteran. With a thrust of her blade, the beast as pierced directly above where its heart should be, eliciting a roar of pain from its fanged maw.

I expected her to jump away right there, or otherwise be hit by her opponents retaliatory strike, but the attack never came. Instead, the beast just stood there; its growls slowly growing silent until they were nothing but whimpered moans. In the relative silence that followed, the sound of something cracking filled the auditory void, growing louder and more frequent by the second, as if opposing the chiropteran's pained whines.

It didn't take long to finally find the source. They started out small, but slowly, a network of red lines extended from where the chiropteran was impaled; faintly glowing in the moonlight that fell from the windows as they grew, slowly forming what looked to be the web of a demented spider. Grunting, likely out of formality or habit than actual physical exertion, the swordswoman pulled her blade out of the monster's chest, revealing a crystallized wound in its place. As if reacting from the air itself, the crimson cracks on the beast's skin seemed to spread faster in what I soon realized to be a process akin to petrification.

"So that was it," I found myself muttering out loud, my voice soft, yet still being heard over the din of silence in the building, intensified further by the echo provided by the walls. A small part of me noted the shift of three pairs of eyes, finally taking notice that I wasn't the only human still currently in the room once Kai had gotten up from his sprawled position near a corner of the warehouse. Another part of me willed my body to mirror the redhead, pulling myself completely out of the hole in the door and getting back on my feet. The rest continued to run the current sequence of events through my head.

"That's how you killed the chiropteran back at the school," I continued, not a single shred of doubt in my voice, my eyes narrowed in concentration as deduction after deduction flowed through my head. Each second, a different hypothesis ran through my mind in order to fully comprehend what had just happened. Every possibility from simple biochemicals and mutations in Saya's blood triggering the crystallization process to an inert petrification spell on her blade, triggered by the application of the same crimson liquid.

I couldn't feel a single trace of magic in the blade though, which must've meant that: "your blood is what ultimately kills them. The chiropterans, I mean," I clarified further, taking a step towards the black haired girl. Saya's eyes had long since lost their vibrant glow, returning to their original reddish-brown hue. From the way she began taking steps back as I closed in on her, it would seem that her old personality had returned as well.

"What are you, exactly? I can tell that you're similar to the Methuselahs and Dead Apostles, yet you lack raw spiritual power that they are known to possess. Your body is far too intact to be a ghoul or among the living dead, yet you possess none of the traits of servitude that a standard vampire are known to possess. So again, just what are you?"

My words hurt. I was certain of it, and the look on Saya's face only proved further that they did. Somewhere beside me, I noted Kai's advance towards me, shouting words that flowed into one ear and exited from the other just as fast as they came. In that state of mind where I began to sort out every bit of information I'd learned, I found an odd trait of mine resurfacing, just as it always did whenever I was close to filling a large gap in any of my chosen mysteries: my sense went on overdrive, making me take notice of all the changes occurring around me; from the most obvious actions to the slightest twitch in the dark; my mind recording all the information that I may need and discarding everything else.

The slightest ruffling in Haji's suit alerted my mind to his presence, the slight hum of his power that I'd never before felt. Instinct took over as I swivelled to the right, completely bypassing the stoic man as he blurred in front me to get in my way. A small rise of his eyebrows spoke greatly of his surprise at such a reaction, likely never having seen such a thing done before… or at least never by a human.

Kai attempted a much more direct approach, trying to grab onto my shoulders to hold me steady. Key word, trying. A simple backhand to move the opposing arm away, followed by a grip to his own shoulder and a mildly strong push was all it took to repel his attempt.

The trance like state I was in would likely have continued even further than that, possibly resulting into violence if it weren't for the sound of car tires skidding on the docks from outside the door. I may have been able to ignore a few things when searching for the truth, but even my research focused mind knew that having a group of armed people entering the warehouse right now definitely wouldn't be good.

Quickly shaking my head to get rid of the rest of my daze, I made an about-face towards the large, rising steel doors, grimacing at my luck. Really, for all the opportunities I'd gotten so far, it seemed that there was always something preventing me from fishing anything involving these chiropterans. Granted, not being able to finish anything related to the supernatural wasn't exactly something new for me, but at least every other time was solely because of me.

Still, it wasn't like there was anything I could do that wouldn't get me into more complications than I would've cared to have. It was with that thought that I allowed myself to release a sigh of resignation and waited for the inevitable arrival of the group that seemed so deeply connected to this chiropteran mystery.


	4. Chapter 3: Turning of the Wheel

Hmm… well, as far as alerts and favourites go, I'd say the last chapter was a success. Not much for reviews though, but eh, whatever. As a bit of a forewarning for those of you out there still unfamiliar with the EC, I have to ask you all to at least go through some of the information on TVtropes. This story's going to have events that would otherwise not be understandable if you don't know the proper context.

Know now that I don't own anything but the plot of this fic.

Aside from that, please enjoy.

**Blood + Emiya III: Turning of the wheel**

It was dawn…

I suppose this would probably be what Sakuya-nee would call a symbolic ending. A new day to represent the coming changes after a dark and dangerous night. For the moment, it seemed that I'd lucked out when it came to investigating my involvement in this entire fiasco. Not for a lack of trying though. Once the corpse of both victim, and chiropteran were removed from the scene, David had began to approach me, only to be stopped by a call on his phone. From the looks of it, whatever he was hearing probably wasn't pleasant.

Lewis had long since gotten into a black, armoured van and was waiting patiently for everyone else to be done with their own business. Kai and Riku were sitting just a little to my left, the older of the two mostly staring at the gun he'd no doubt brought for the confrontation with Forest. I did catch him glaring at me every once in a while though. Riku, meanwhile, had mostly spent his time looking from his brother to his sister; likely just being glad that both were fine.

What surprised me though, was Haji. The man had actually stayed after the chiropteran was dealt with this time. Even though he didn't seem keen on interacting with everyone, he still stood there, right beside Saya, who, thus far, had spent the entire time sitting on a bollard, wrapped up in a yellow blanket. Both of them seemed content with simply staring at the horizon, if grimly so.

So far, since the van that carried the chiropteran corpse and its victim had left, the only sound that was heard were David's muffled conversation.

I sighed tiredly. This certainly wasn't the most insane night of my life. Hell, the most insane night of nearly everyone I personally knew was the same one. It was still the most I was ever involved in the 'action' of all of it though. Mostly, it was Kiri-nii, Arika-nee or Haru-nii who got into all sorts of adventures. Shinta would probably be the most adventurous following them, with Chiyo-nee, Keiko-nee and Karin-nee not trailing far behind. Aya-nee had also gotten her fair share of action after she was winged.

Still, I suppose this was inevitable. I only noticed it now, but it seemed that being a child of Shirou Emiya generally meant you were supposed to go through one of two things: either you were caught up in some sort of big adventure, or you lived through what could easily be called one of the most exciting school experiences in the world. Evidently, I'd been placed in the first category.

"My dad was taken away?"

My eyes snapped up at the alarmed tone in Saya's voice.

"Why?" she asked David, who now stood in front of her. If this was what the phone call he'd received was about, then it looks like my guess was dead on.

"We don't know yet," the blonde replied grimly. "Julia contacted us and said that she confirmed that he was taken to the US military base."

"Confirmed?" I turned to look at Kai, his look of confusion morphing into an angry scowl. "Why didn't you stop them?!" he demanded, outraged as he ran towards David, glaring at him face to face. "You just sat by and watched them take our dad away?!"

The blonde glared back at Kai, not folding in the least under the younger man's leer. "We had no choice," he answered dispassionately. It actually felt… familiar, in a way. Though I couldn't quite tell why. "If our involvement in the situation was discovered, it would only make the rest of this mission more difficult."

Kai's scowl deepened. "What do you mean by that?!" he demanded. It was obvious from the way he talked that he was getting more and more frustrated by the second. "Are you saying that you're not going to help our dad?! Isn't all of this your fault to be-!"

"We'll do whatever we can," David interrupted decisively, his glare intensifying; rooting the redhead in place. With a frustrated sigh, the blond walked around Kai and approached the still seated Saya; an air of neutrality returning to his features. "It would be best if you come with us. If our hypothesis is correct, there will probably be chiropterans where George has been moved. You're the only that can give us a fighting chance."

A frightening silence came over the area as David's words sunk in. It was hard from where I stood, but even from this far away, I could tell that Saya's eyes had widened the moment those vampiric beasts were mentioned.

Still, as grim as it may be, that the chiropterans were directly involved with the US military came as a surprise to me. I knew they were already connected, but until now, I just thought that they were trying to cover up the chiropterans' existence. A method to prevent mass panic from breaking out.

That the chiropterans were _kept_ by the US military opened up all sorts of possible connections. At the very least, it could mean that they were simply researching them, which would be understandable, given how they'd be seen as a new and highly dangerous race. On the other hand, it could also be that they were somehow _making_ the chiropterans, which would imply that they knew about vampires as well. If that was true, then it wouldn't be a stretch to say that the entire military knew about magic too. Worse yet, it could also be possible that the entire US government knew about magic.

Granted that in itself wouldn't be the end of the world, but The Clock Tower not knowing anything about it? Either knowledge about this was kept shut tighter than the deepest pits of our basement, or someone who really knew what they were doing was pulling the strings.

Whatever the case was though, one thing was for sure: the moment someone, Kaa-san, in particular, got wind of this, someone's bound to wish that they were dead. Not necessarily alone.

"I'll go with you."

She spoke very softly, but in the stillness of dawn, Saya's answer was still enough to break me from my stupor. I looked at her once as she rose to her feet and walked to the van. I can honestly say that I know very little about infiltrating a military facility, but one thing was for certain: Saya wasn't ready for this. The look of resignation made it clear that she didn't have the will to fight the chiropterans, and if she didn't have that…

I sighed…

Perhaps if she didn't have her amnesia, disaster might be avoided. But considering that her problem did, in fact, seem legitimate, then the chance of everything going well was practically zero. If she didn't gain the will to fight, or the experience to survive anytime soon, then I somehow doubt that everyone involved in this mess would still be alive by the end of it all.

"Wait!" Kai shouted abruptly, stopping his adopted sister in her tracks. All eyes turned to regard the redhead. "If you know where our dad is, then we'll go too!"

Turning to David, the blonde seemed to contemplate the request for a while, before finally nodding his consent. "Very well," he replied, "they'll learn about us if you stay here anyway," he reasoned. Then he turned to face me, a scowl quickly planting itself on his features. "What about you, ?"

I kept my expression as impassive as possible. It may have been easy to fool most teenagers with that, but being round lots of dangerous people –Mana-san and Yasu-nee-san, especially– tended to make easier to know what question you were given in these sorts of situations. He wasn't asking me if I would or wouldn't go with them, he was asking whether or not I would do so quietly.

That in mind, I balanced everything out in my head. On one hand, going with them would allow me to gain more information on these chiropterans, but it would cut me off from a lot of things that I'll need. It would also open up a lot of opportunities for someone to ransack my temporary abode. On the other, refusing to go along would leave me time to gather some things I might need from home, but they'd be rendered redundant if I wasn't with their group anyway. Not to mention that they already knew where I live and could chase me down easily.

Doubtless, the first choice would be better but…

"Would it be possible for me to pick up some things from my home first?"

… there was always room for compromise.

-X-

"Hurry up! And don't even think about trying to run!" I heard David shout from the bottom of the stairs as I entered my house. Responding with a nonchalant wave, I closed the door behind me and surveyed the room. As expected, it was completely thrashed. The couch was overturned and missing its cushions, the TV was lying screen down, the potted plants that had once been by the window were dug out. Yet, despite all those factors, one could easily see a level of order in the mess. Certainly, they were just as thorough in searching for things as they were proficient in it. Chances are, given a few more hours, this place would've looked as though I never left it.

Making my way to the hall that led to the kitchen, bedroom and -hopefully undiscovered- workshop, I carefully took note of all the mystic codes lying about the room. The feather duster was lying exactly where I threw it earlier, likely left alone from lack of interest. The glass from the window to left of the TV's normal spot was shattered, which meant that someone out there had a bruised and possibly blood face. The closet was also open, with a lot of unsealed jars inside, so there might just be reports on exotic, dangerous and strangely very agitated African bugs finding their way to Okinawa in the near future.

Other than that, none of the other half-dozen or so magically enchanted objects seemed to have been activated. "Hmm… come to think of it, when _was_ the last time I took inventory of those things?" I muttered to myself before shrugging off the question as I entered the short hallway. "Eh… I'll get to it as soon as I have time."

Reaching the door of the kitchen and finding it ajar, I took a quick peek inside. Like in the living room, everything was in an organized mess: pots and pans stacked on the floor, food that were supposed to be in the pantry lying on the counter, and there was red jello everywhere. This, along with the fact that there was a burn mark on the roof right above the stove told me that two more of my traps were triggered.

Of course, only the stove and fridge were mystic codes. The jello came from the KTC-3 monster that was imprisoned in the fridge. Thankfully, it was set to explode after three minutes of release via a magitech bomb inserted inside of it while the jello was setting.

If anyone else was with me right now, I'm pretty sure they would have been creeped out by the excessively wide grin on my face. _"'Useless mystic codes' she said. Ha, if only Keiko-nee saw this place right now."_ I continued on to the hidden door that led to my workshop with a jaunty tune playing in my head.

With a few precise strokes on the wall, I started feeding od to certain parts of the wall. Within seconds, what was once a set of horizontal wooden boards turned into a simplistic mahogany door. My smile shrunk a little as I prepared to enter. Certainly, the chances of them finding my workshop was slim to none if they didn't have a magus with them. But then that was the problem: I didn't know whether or not they _did_ have a magus working in their ranks. It was entirely possible that I just hadn't met them yet. And even if they didn't have any mages, there was still a chance that they would have found the hidden room.

Taking a deep breath, I steeled myself before opening the door to find…

…

Nothing wrong. A sighed in relief. Everything was in its place, even the impossibly stacked pile of unfinished experiments. Possibly one of the few thaumaturgical experiments I did finish was one that allowed all my other uncompleted codes to stick precariously together. A single touch from anyone who didn't have my od coating their hand, and that pile would not only crumble, it would've been impossible to put together. No person on an investigation, magus or otherwise, would've left that pile alone. It practically screamed 'hiding spot', even if, technically, it didn't hide anything important.

Feeling my wide smile returning, I walked towards the very end of the room, my eyes scanning around it to look for anything else I might find useful. Of course, given that most of the stuff here didn't really work, or were otherwise just not helpful, I actually found myself wondering why I even bothered.

With a shake of my head, I drove all those things out of my thoughts and turned to what was in front of me. It was cabinet. Small, simplistic in appearance and very unassuming, this cabinet was nonetheless a very important part of my workshop. So much so, in fact, that it was the very first thing I had taken here.

This cabinet held only three things inside it. The only three mysteries I ever completed that would have ever been considered useful by an average magus. Opening it up, I removed each one of them. The first, a long sheet of seemingly ordinary -if a bit old and torn- paper. The second, a sheathed Kodachi. And the third, a set of clothes.

The first one, I likely wouldn't even need, but if I knew right, what I was getting into would probably lead to some sort of adventure, and you could never tell when you might need something then. The set of clothes, however, would be the only one I'd be using immediately.

Appearance-wise, the set was rather plain. A black, long-sleeved, button up shirt, and matching loose-fitting pants, finished off by a pair of black and grey sneakers. In most of Japan, it might have even been considered a school uniform. The only outwardly special feature it had was that, barring the shoes, the entire apparel was made from pure cotton.

Despite that, it was still my most prized achievement. Based off of Bazett-kaa-san and Ivone-nee's own clothing, this set was made for all sorts of danger. It had the same runes that allowed me to chase after Saya two days ago without incurring suspicion. Each cotton fibre was enchanted to regrow when damaged, essentially making it self-repairing. More runes gave it the defensive power of a bullet-proof vest, despite keeping its mass and softness. Fireproof, waterproof, and capable of taking five thousand volts without harming the bearer. And best of all, it was _very _efficient when it came to mana consumption. It was like armour, but lighter and much _much_ stealthier.

Nodding to myself, took all three codes with me and exited my workshop. Only my phone, notebook, and a few clothes to pack, and I'd be ready to go.

-X-

_Interlude: Normal POV_

Red Shield side-

"Are you sure it's smart to let that boy stay here?" Julia asked David as she sat by her desk. Two days had already gone by since they'd reported the most recent chiropteran incident to Red Shield HQ, and thus far, no reply had arrived. This led to the two of them waiting in the main office of the organization's rest clinic while Lewis had gone off to gather information about George.

"We have no choice," David answered, his usual frown noticeably deeper than normal. "He knows too much, and the U.S. army is probably already aware that he's involved. Letting him run free on his own will only give us more things to worry about."

Julia gave the blonde American a curious look. "You say that, but you still let him gather some of his personal belongings," she stated matter-of-factly, "wouldn't that just let him leak out information?"

David shook his head. "In this day and age, most people wouldn't even think twice about dismissing the existence of chiropterans as just another story," he countered, turning to look outside the room's sole window. "It's to our advantage that a majority of the world's population has become so cynical to the 'supernatural'. Nine times out of ten, a person wouldn't believe you if they told you that they saw a real monster. Not without seeing it for themselves at least once."

"So you say," the brunette replied hesitantly, still unsure of the situation, yet finding no finding herself with no arguments that would lead to progress. "I still don't think it's a good idea giving that boy access to electronic communication. With Kai and Riku, it's understandable, given how they're already connected to both Saya, and George. But that Jun… he has no incentive to remain silent. Or rather, no incentive that he can apparently do without. And to make matters worse, given the background check we made on him…"

As Julia trailed off, David's frown only deepened even more. "No useful information whatsoever," he recalled grimly, remembering clearly how sparse the information they managed to find on their anomalous charge. "There's something strange about that boy."

The doctor among the pair nodded slowly in agreement, a perplexed expression dawning on her face. "The blood samples we pulled when we treated his injury proves negative as far as chiropteran DNA goes. Then there was the missing weapons from when he attacked the chiropteran…"

"Two short swords, both of which he claimed to have discarded at the scene. Neither found," the blonde agent continued for her, his own features contorting into a puzzled expression. "That his family owns a beach house here in Okinawa suggests that he comes from a wealthy background, yet even _that_ information didn't lead to anything. And when I tried to question him there-"

"He not only managed to get away, he also managed to fend you off without getting hit even once," Julia cut in, much to the blonde's displeasure. She returned his annoyed glare with a tiny smirk of triumph.

"Then there was the report from the ones who sweeped his house," David continued with a small, yet clearly annoyed huff. "A glass window moving at a fast enough speed to break upon impact, despite there being no wind. An entire closet filled with jars of dangerous exotic insects suddenly flying open, and the jars losing their lids. A stove that turned on at full power for no reason whatsoever. And then…"

"The red slime monster that tried to rape them," the doctor finished for him, barely holding in her laugh. "Really now, the ones before that, I could believe. A few well placed sensors and machines could have done all those things, but the monster was obviously made up."

"Hmph… this coming from someone who does research on chiropterans, I'm rather surprised that you would just jump to that conclusion," the blonde man admonished. "I must admit though… even if I have no idea why they would falsify a report like that, I can't really find it in myself to believe them."

Julia nodded her agreement. "And they put so much effort into it too," she commented with equal parts amusement and puzzlement, "they actually covered the entire room with strawberry gelatine, and even gave me some samples to examine." With a sigh, the female doctor leaned back in her chair, her head upturned to look at the ceiling.

"Judging from your reaction, I'm guessing that there was nothing abnormal?" David question, receiving another nod from his colleague.

"Just normal, if very badly made gelatine," Julia confirmed.

As the conversation ended, the two Red Shield members were left in silence. David stayed leaning on the wall across from the phone, his attention shifting regularly between it and the scene outside the window beside him. Julia too, was looking out the window, staring at the afternoon streets of Okinawa.

"If our estimation is correct, Diva should wake up within a month," the doctor noted forlornly as she stared at the setting sun. Her associate grunted with grim acknowledgement.

"If we want the best shot at killing her, Saya must be made ready by then. Otherwise…" David trailed off, not even needing to say just what kind of horrors would occur if such a thing was the case.

Julia's features shifted to a melancholy state. "It's a bit depressing, to tell you the truth. Forcing Saya to kill her own twin," she admitted evenly, her eyes darting towards the blonde who only sighed upon hearing her.

"That's one way of looking at it," the agent replied, his expression not softening even a single inch, "however, in the end, it doesn't matter. Diva _must_ be killed, and Saya is the only one who can accomplish the task." As he said that, his eyes came to meet his colleague's own, "I know that you joined Red Shield because your sister was killed, but don't forget just what it was that killed her. If Diva isn't stopped, more people will be forced to suffer the same thing."

Frowning deeper, the brunette nodded, conceding to the agent's point. And with that, silence reigned one more.

-X-

Just outside the door to the room the two were conversing in was a brown haired sixteen year old, his features not even hinting at just how much his interest was piqued by the thing's he'd just heard. Nodding to himself, Jun Emiya detached himself from the wall he was leaning on before walking away; the runes on the lapel of his shirt glowing as he walked past one of the Red Shield guards patrolling the hallway.

"So the enemy is Saya's sister huh?" he muttered to himself as he walked to his room, a tiny smile of amusement playing on the edges of his lips, "sounds like Altrouge-kaa-san and aunt Arcueid all over again."

Despite his amusement, Jun couldn't help himself as he shuddered at that thought. "I hope neither of the two are as powerful. Otherwise, I've definitely bitten off more than I could chew." Laughing nervously at his predicament, the easily sidetracked Emiya began planning his next move.

"_I think it's about time I contacted aunt Ciel and aunt Sion. Maybe they'll have some information I can work with."_

-X-

Saya side, next day-

The raven haired girl sat glumly on the bed she'd been provided, occasionally glancing at the stoic form of Haji, leaning on one of the walls. Three days had passed since her most recent brush with death. Three days since they were put under unofficial house arrest in the clinic they were detained to. Three days since her father was taken away.

"_Even after that much time, I still can't makes sense of all of this,"_ she thought to herself, absentmindedly reaching for the katana that had been given to her. Resting the blade on top of her lap, she stared at it forlornly, as if hoping that it would give her some of the answers she was looking for. _"What are these chiropterans? Why am I the only one that can kill them? And what… what happened to me… when I was fighting them?"_

Memories began flooding into her head as she unsheathed the katana, her own eyes staring back at her from within the steel. There was another time, very recently, when she had witnessed a similar sight. That night at school, when she first came into contact with the chiropterans. _"That's right. Kai was about to be attacked, Emiya-san was knocked out and Haji…"_ she glanced once more, as discreetly as she could, towards the pale man, _"Haji got me to drink some of his blood and I just… changed."_

"_I could fight those chiropterans so easily. Like I already knew how to kill them. As if… I'd been fighting them for so long."_ Another set of memories flashed into her head. This time, of when her father took her to the Miyagusuku family grave. When he told her about how he found her. _"That's right… Otou-san… found me in that cocoon. I… whatever I am, I'm not human. Maybe… maybe I _have_ been fighting those chiropterans for a long time now."_

More memories raced through her head. How the first chiropteran jumped at her, only to be cut down in a single strike. How Haji knocked the second one away before she stabbed it in its heart. And right after that…

"_That's how you killed the chiropteran back at the school"_

Saya didn't really know much about Johnathan Emiya, other than the general information everyone at school already knew. He was a transfer student from Shin-Tokyo who began attending Koza high school ten days ago. Half Japanese, and half European (though which country, no one was sure), he was also apparently the son of a rich businessman. Generally friendly and was easily accepted by many people in her class. Then there was also the rumour that he liked her, though she was certain that was untrue.

That aside, there was one thing she was certain about: Johnathan Emiya wasn't normal. The very first time he did anything noticeable was fight a chiropteran. This in itself though strange, couldn't really be called unnatural. Her father fought one as well, and there was apparently an entire organization fighting them. What set him apart? Everyone else that voluntarily fought the chiropterans were (assumedly) properly armed. Johnathan fought one with a skeleton stand and a few scalpels. And not just that, he was _winning!_

Granted, she wasn't certain whether or not he would've been able to kill the first chiropteran, but the fact he was able to hold one off so easily was, quite frankly, terrifying. Just what kind of person could move like that? When he was fighting, it was as though he knew exactly how the chiropteran would move. Already reacting before his opponent even moved. Even when Haji moved so fast that she barely saw him, he was still incapable of stopping the exchange student.

"_What are you, exactly?"_

She sheathed the katana. That question kept coming back to her, and in truth, she couldn't really answer it. Saya herself wasn't sure what she was. She was certain of what she _wasn't_, but not of what she was. Humans typically don't come from cocoons after all. As much as the question pained her, she just couldn't stop asking herself those questions.

"_I can tell that you're similar to the Methuselahs and Dead Apostles, yet you lack raw spiritual power that they are known to possess."_

"_Methuselahs? Dead apostles? What were those things?"_ her wondering dragged on, coming up with many more questions, even as her mind strove to answer all the others that came before them. He talked about those two things with such surety that she was certain they weren't simply made up.

"_Your body is far too intact to be a ghoul or among the living dead, yet you possess none of the traits of servitude that a standard vampire are known to possess."_

Vampire. Those were among the things she was confused of the most. He thought that she was some sort of subspecies of vampire. _"Do vampires even _have_ any subspecies?"_ It as an odd thing to ask herself, even in her mind. Yet, she couldn't help it. _"Do they even exist at all? They're supposed to be just stories, aren't they?"_

Saya was desperate. She just wanted out of this whole confusing debacle. But when she thought about the chiropterans… well, the vampire thing definitely became more plausible. After all, in Haji's own words, chiropterans were monsters who subsist on the blood of the living to sustain themselves. If she was asked to name something that fit that description before this whole thing happened, then vampire would probably be the first thing to pop into her head.

"_But if that_ is _the case… then…"_ the raven haired girl looked down to her open hands. _"I only became stronger… both those times… after I drank Haji's blood."_ Her hands began to shake as the pieces began falling into place. _"Could he be right? Am I… a vampire? A… chiropteran?"_

Her breath started to become erratic as more and more thoughts flooded her mind. Was that really the truth? If so, what did it all mean? Was she really the same as the monsters that she killed? Same as the one who killed her teacher? As the one who attacked her father?

"Saya…" a quiet, yet firm voice broke her out of her reverie. Her head rose quickly, eyes darting towards the only other person in the room. Haji was still there, looking at her as stoic as ever… or… was he? His brow was furrowed, and his lips turned downwards near the ends. It was faint. Barely visible, in fact. But it was definitely there.

He was worried about her. She didn't know how. Perhaps it was because of something else she did before finding herself in that cocoon her father found her in, but despite his appearance of indifference, Saya was still capable of reading Haji's expression. And for equally mysterious reasons, that calmed her down somewhat.

Taking a long, deep breath, Saya Otonashi stood up from her bed. She had to focus on more important matters right now. Matters such as getting her father back safely. _"I-san said that there would probably be chiropterans there."_

"I have to go, don't I?" she asked with a note of resignation in her voice. Her gaze returned to the pale man leaning on the wall. "Will you help me… Haji?"

A short pause came after the question. Then, Haji's stance grew more rigid, his back no longer supported by the wall behind him. "If that is your wish," he replied evenly, with not a single sign of argument.

Saya nodded, a slight smile forming at her lips. She slowly walked out the door. "I need some fresh air," she told the cello player, before exiting the room.

-X-

?-side

In a mansion somewhere within the countryside of France, an otherwise normal -if antique- phone began to ring, breaking the silence within the dimly lit room. What little amount of illumination, coming from the motes of moonlight wafting in from between gaps in the curtains, seemed to strike ancient looking, yet still pristine device perfectly, giving it full visibility had someone simply walked through the doors into the room. In front of the table it was set upon, the silhouette of man, sitting in what was likely an ornate armchair reached out with its hand to answer, giving a curt greeting once the receiver was in place.

"Sir, this is Van Argiano, from Cinque Fleshe. I am currently reporting from the Japanese military base in Okinawa," A firm, yet partially amused tone greeted back in a thick French accent. "The matter of the escaped mice here in Okinawa has been taken care of," the Frenchman reported.

The silhouetted man hummed in response, not making apparent whether he approved of the news or simply didn't care. "There were no complications, I hope." It was statement, not meant to be contradicted in anyway, yet also held an inflection that hinted at already being aware of one about to surface. The rather hushed nervous gulp that reached his ears proved his prediction right.

"You… may have already gotten news about the… 'terrorist attack' that occurred within the area," Van replied, noticeably losing his previously pleased tone. "We lost the first mouse when an explosive destroyed the ambulance used to carry the body. It was dead before we found it though. The second, we'd tracked to an abandoned warehouse. By the time our forces got there, however, it was already gone. Evidence suggests that it too, was already dead at the time."

A long pause carried out as the seated man relaxed in his place, seemingly indifferent to what was told to him just moments ago. If one looked closely though, they would've seen a pair of glowing red dots around where his eyes should have been.

"Yes, I was already informed," the seated man confirmed. "I do thank you for this bit of news though," he added, a hint of sarcasm almost audible in his otherwise emotionless tone. "is there anything else you'd like to inform me about."

Again, though formatted as a question, its speakers tone clearly talked as though he was making a demand. A demand that Van was quick to follow.

"There were two people that were reportedly hospitalized during an attack by the second mouse. One major injury, the other, merely a flesh wound, if their medical records are to be believed. We've managed to obtain the older and more injured of the two: one George Miyagusuku, who received a set of large slashes across his abdomen, closed off surgically before we extracted him, and is currently receiving a blood transfusion containing the Delta-67 compound in Yanbaru, as per your orders for all survivors."

The thickly accented tone sounded both panicked and placating, as though somewhat afraid about the seated man's reaction.

"And the other victim?" This time, he did ask, though it would probably be better to call it a stoic demand than a question. Either way, it gave the Frenchman pause, another hushed gulp escaping from the speaker and into the seated man's ear.

"He was apparently requested to be quarantined within the hospital by those who had brought him there. Unfortunately, it seemed that the boy had escaped before we were able to reach the area. His current whereabouts are unknown."

"Do you have any information on him, at least?" the man followed up, a hint of annoyance seeping into his calm tone.

"Yes sir. According to his files, the subject in question is a 16 year old exchange student at Koza high school: Johnathan Barthomeloi Emiya. Short of that, however, we currently have no-"

"Emiya, you say?" the silhouetted man cut him off, his voice taking on a curious and amused tone The red glows from before fading into blackness. He hummed in reply as soon as he'd received confirmation. When he spoke again, it was with the same stoic tone he began with, hinting neither at disappointment or approval. "Very well then. Tell the base to try to find more on him, but don't focus too much on it. I think this one can be allowed to slip past. Besides, you're needed back at Vietnam."

With those final words, he pulled the receiver away from his face and placed it back on its original place, bringing the arm that previously held it towards him, propping it on the arm of the chair and resting his head on the fist. "Heh… Emiya, huh?" he mused. "I wonder… could this just be coincidence or… could your family really be tied down to chiropterans some other way?"

"Huhuhuhuhuhuhu… I believe, Amshel, that the proper term you are looking for is 'Fate'," A second voice spoke, rather flamboyantly, just behind the seated man -Amshel- where two more silhouettes could be seen. "Is there something you'd like to share with your brothers hmm, Amshel?"

Amshel remained silent for a few seconds longer, not deigning even a physical response to the question. Then, seemingly without warning, the sound of near silent chuckle escaped from his position. "Nothing you need to worry about right now, Nathan. Just remembering some dealings with an old research partner. A shame really. That man would have done well in helping develop the research with chiropterans had he become a chevalier. And then his assistant just decides to drink Diva's blood and get herself killed soon after."

Once more, silence seemed to permeate the room as the conversation was settled. Not a single word spoken as the three figures remained content with all that had been said.

…

…

…

For all of ten minutes…

"I still don't see any reason as to why we have to sit here, doing nothing but waiting for reports. And in the dark, no less" the third person suddenly groused, his tone making it all too clear how annoyed he was.

When the second man, Nathan, responded with an amused chuckle, he only seemed to grow even angrier. "All in the presentation, dear James. It's merely part of the setup, and as long as we are in my mansion then, unless Diva were to say otherwise, we will obey MY rules," he intoned, the cheeriness in his voice contradicting greatly with the malevolent glow that came from his eyes, its illuminating red light piercing the darkness in a way not even Amshel could match.

-X-

And that, my dear readers, is the end. Hope you all enjoyed this piece.


	5. Chapter 4: Clash of Hidden Worlds

Still not much on the reviews, but certainly better than chapter two. Moving on, this is the fourth official chapter of Blood Plus Emiya, and the penultimate chapter of the Yanbaru arc.

Before we begin, I'd like to bring a few things to note though. First, when it says 'two days later' in this chapter, it means two days after the incident at the docks. In other words, the days where the interludes occur didn't count in the calculation. Second, I seem to have made a mistake in the previous chapter. The interlude section with David and Julia occurred right before the start of this chapter, which meant they happened two days after the docks, not three. Third, for anybody confused with certain character references here, please go to the Emiya clan character tvtropes page (just google Emiya clan and you should find it).

Know now that I don't own anything but the plot of this fic, and partial ownership of Johnathan Barthomeloi 'Jun' Emiya.

Read, enjoy, and review.

**Chapter 4: Clash of Hidden Worlds**

Two days later…

_"A list of twin vampires?"_ aunt Ciel asked over the phone, her tone holding equal parts confusion and suspicion. _"Why on earth would you need something like that?"_

"No important reason," I lied, feigning disinterest, "it's just a theory I've been working on and… well, let's just say that I've come to a bit of a strange spot." My excuse was pretty weak, and the nervous laugh that slipped out near the end probably didn't help me much. Still, it's the second Friday of the month, and if the slip of paper aunt Arcueid once dropped is correct and still accurate…

_"Alright fine, I'll type up some of the ones that I can remember, but that's it alright? I'm already breaking all sorts of laws by doing this, so I won't be checking any of the records."_

Yep. It was both Curry night _and_ her turn with uncle Shiki, and if there was anything that could be used to exploit aunt Ciel, it was her love for both. It helped that I called her again and again the last time I needed something from her. She probably didn't want me to disturb her later.

"It'll do I suppose," I told her evenly, despite the triumphant grin I knew was plastered on my face. "You already know my e-mail address. Just send it over later. And thank you."

Aunt Ciel sighed in exasperation at my instructions. _"Yeah, yeah. Just don't bother me anymore. I've got a lot of important business to take care of later, alright?"_ I responded with a yes almost immediately, and moments later, the line was cut; though not before I heard her say 'that boy and his projects'. Whether or not I should take that as a compliment, I wasn't sure, but it mattered little in the end.

What did matter was that data was coming my way later. Whether or not it would change anything might not be certain, but it was always better to know there wasn't anything there than to never be sure. Of course, that didn't mean stopping my hunt for more information. '_I cannot make bricks without clay,'_ after all.

Tapping a different set of numbers on the phone and putting it next to my ear, I waited as it sounded with the tell tale ringing of proper contact. The wait wasn't long though. It would seem that aunt Sion was as diligent about answering her phone as Obaasan was. Before the third ring could even end, a curt 'hello' had already greeted me.

"Aunt Sion, this is Jun," I informed the purple haired magus, and although she couldn't see it, I had a pleased smile on my face when she replied positively. Pleasantries aside though, I had to get to business fast. "Umm… aunt Sion, do you remember when you were searching for a cure for vampirism," I broached carefully, knowing that it would only take a little probing in this particular subject to anger her.

_"… Yes. Why?"_ she questioned back, her mood noticeably more sombre than it was just a few moments ago.

"You must've done research on a lot of different types of vampires right?"

_"Yes, I did,"_ she admitted, though there wasn't any of the usual pride a magus would have at such an achievement. _"And from everything you've said so far, there's 87% chance of you asking me to give you the information I acquired."_

I suppressed a cringe of embarrassment, even though I knew no one would've seen it anyway. "I'm not really asking for much of it," my voice was sheepish as I tried to lower her guard. Magi didn't really like to give their secrets to just anybody, after all. "Just looking for a specific quality," I said honestly, edging closer to my objective.

_"Which is?"_

A sigh of relief nearly escaped me when she asked that. Definitely a good sign. Hopefully, she'd consider my request. "During your research, have you ever come across a vampire that could crystallize other vampires with their blood?" a surprised 'eh' sounded from the other side of the phone as soon as I finished my statement.

_"Crystallize other vampires?"_ she asked, likely in disbelief. There was a pause on the line as she seemed to hum to herself. _"Well…"_ she began, apparently still trying to decide whether or not to go through with it, _"have you ever heard of a Dead Apostle named Abraham Halonen?"_

The question came as a bit of a surprise, but not an unpleasant one. It meant that I'd be getting some form of information out of this. "I can't say I've ever heard the name before. No," I answer truthfully.

Aunt Sion hummed once more, this time much shorter. For some reason, I imagined her nodding from her side. _"That's to be expected. Abraham Halonen, was a former Dead Apostle Ancestor, destroyed some three hundred years ago by the Edelfelt family. Appa-"_

"The Edelfelt family?" I cut in, making my confusion clear. "As in, 'Luvia-kaa-san' Edelfelt? The same Edelfelts who've been known to never get involved with Dead Apostles hunts? Ever?"

A sigh of exasperation came from the phone. _"There's a reason for all that,"_ the magus from the other end intoned tiredly, as though this had happened all too many times before. _"Listen, Jun, if I tried telling the entire history behind this, we'd be here all day. Why don't I just send you all the information I have on it? It will probably take me a few days to sort out all of the relevant papers, but that way, you'll be able to analyze it at your own pace."_

I took a few moments to think about the proposition. Certainly, it would be better to have the information within my reach at all times rather than just noting it down. On the other hand, having it on a computer as opposed to just keeping it in my head was definitely less secure. Plus there was the fact that I'd have to wait for it…. Then again, MBI MAATbooks are ludicrously difficult to hack into, not to mention that mine -and pretty much everyone else in the family who owned any kind of computer- had built in security measures courtesy of Matsu-kaa-san, Chisame-nee, Karin-nee and Souhiro, which made it nearly impossible to access without knowing the correct method.

"That would be great aunt Sion," I finally responded after the internal debate. One curt reply later, and the line was cut. Putting the phone away into my bag, I reached for the only other piece of technology I brought with me: a custom made MBI Mystic and Alien Tech electronic notebook, or MAATbook for short (and to hide the meaning of the acronyms from the general public).

It was time to do something important that I'd been holding off for the past few days: Reading and replying my family's e-mails.

Opening the very first one in the my inbox, I couldn't quite help myself from smiling when I saw the picture of Touma cheerily giving autographs in Hanoi. Right below that was caption that read: will be here all week. "Oh that's right," I muttered to myself, "Touma went to Vietnam with Kiri-nii for training."

-X-

_Next day. Morning…_

I lay on my back on the highest point of the clinic's roof, gazing up at the clouds as they passed by. My mind, as usual, was a cacophony of different thoughts, theories and plans concerning my situation. That, and for some reason, food.

Aunt Sion would probably need a bit more time to sift through her records, and aunt Ciel had yet to send me the list that I asked for. Hopefully, both would arrive some time tonight. That was fine. I'm more than content with thinking up the rest of the whys and hows of this mystery set in front of me.

Things like 'how did Saya end up in the Miyagusuku family's care,' or 'how did she lose her memory in the first place' and 'how does Red Shield know about vampires but not thaumaturgy'. Then there's the 'why is Red Shield fighting this 'Diva' vampire in the first place' or more importantly 'why is _Saya_ fighting _for_ them.'

So many questions, yet so few facts with which to incorporate them together. The sound of the metal door leading to the roof rang out, just as the thought crossed my mind. Curious, I rolled to my stomach and looked over the side to find Kai and Riku entering exiting from the building's interiors. They didn't seem to notice me as they made their way to the side of the construct where the stairs leading to my position was situated.

Neither brother seemed to bother talking as they sat down, leaning on the wall of the beside the ladder. It was an odd sight, to see the two just sitting there. It was almost identical to how they were at the docks three days ago. Still, it was none of my business, and it wasn't like I wouldn't hear anything else they'd say, so I returned to what I was doing before, watching the clouds, and letting my thoughts wander.

Five minutes in, and I heard one of the two sigh in frustration. Kai, most likely. Then came the sound of shifting clothes, and soon after, the tell tale smack of rubber bouncing off a hard surface, preceded by a barely audible grunt from the older Miyagusuku. Briefly, I wondered to myself where they could have gotten a rubber ball from, but dismissed the thought process entirely. It was unimportant.

Ten minutes in, and another, fainter set of footsteps sound from the other side of the door. Again, curiosity struck me as I peeked over the edge once more. Black hair, feminine figure. It seemed that Saya had come out to get some fresh air. Well, that, or to look for her brothers, but judging by the fact that she wasn't looking around the place, he latter wasn't very likely.

The sound of a small rubber ball bouncing on concrete caught her attention. Slowly, as though she was unsure of whether she should go through with it, the raven haired vampire peered over the corner at her brothers, neither of whom noticing her presence.

"I wonder if Otou-san is okay?" Riku asked worriedly from out of the blue.

Right. Of course conversation between those two would start now. And if the pattern follows through, one of them -Kai most likely- will end up saying something that'll hurt Saya's feelings in some way. Then they'll find out that she heard him say it.

"The old man wouldn't die that easy," Kai reassured, though the annoyed tone in his voice would've been obvious to anyone who heard it. From a few feet beside them, still unnoticed, Saya shifted herself to lean on the wall at her side of the corner, keeping most of her out of their line of sight.

The impact of the ball hitting the roof's cemented railing sounded across the air once more. Riku's disheartened sigh followed soon after. "It's been three days though," the younger Miyagusuku noted glumly. "I wonder if David-san would give us any clues about Otou-san," the pre-teen continued, turning to face his older brother.

I couldn't see his face, but I was certain it had taken on an expression of naïve optimism.

"If he does, then we can look for him ourselves! We can tell Saya-neechan, and she can come too…"

And there's the oh so predictable optimism of a still mostly innocent boy. It was both heart warming and disheartening at the same time, really. That anyone could still hold their hopes up so well despite everything they'd gone through, and knowing that at one point, that too would be torn down. Life is, was, and always will be too cruel to let anyone live in that haze of virtuousness for too long. Not without destroying their minds, at least.

"Saya is different from us," Kai interrupted, grunting louder as he threw the rubber ball with even more force than before. The impact nearly masked the sound of Saya's faint gasp from my ears.

I would've sighed in resignation if it wasn't for the fact that I already expected this to happen. Hanging around with Kyon-nii really does help when it comes to predicting outcomes. Oh, and wouldn't you know it, the ball wound up hitting Kai's feet and began rolling towards Saya. And of course, Riku was looking at it the entire time.

Three…

Two…

One…

"Saya-neechan," Riku called out, right on time.

"Saya," Kai intoned soon after, turning towards the raven haired vampire's direction.

For a while, none of them seemed willing to talk. Understandable, considering the situation. Now, if this pattern is really going to go like Kyon-nii said these things were supposed to go, then either Saya would run away or-

"I'm sorry. I…"

She would apologize. Damn, Kyon-nii's even better at this predicting thing than I am. Now if only he could use that to fight, then I'd really have a challenge. Sure, a lot of my other brothers and sisters are stronger than me, but the only thing I can really learn from them is how to act in certain situations.

Was it useful? Yes, but not as good for practical combat training as fighting against someone close to your level. The only one in the family who really gave me a run for my money without completely erasing all chances of victory were Chiyo-nee and Touma-nii after he came back from his training with Mana.

"Kai-niichan, where are you going?" Riku's voice brought me back to the events below. It seemed that Kai was more upset about the situation he'd put himself through than I thought, if he was willing to just leave.

"Bathroom," the older Miyagusuku answered levelly as he walked back inside the building. The silence that followed after that was understandably uncomfortable, even for me, who wasn't involved at all.

The two foster siblings seemed to look at each other's eyes, incapable of deciding what the best course of action was. Then, without making a sound, Saya just sat herself down besides her adopted younger brother; hugging her knees as she hid her face between them. Still unsure of what the right thing to do was, Riku simply chose to follow her example and sit quietly in the same spot, his head turning upwards to look at the sky.

Then his eyes widened in surprise. It took me a moment of wondering why it was he seemed so shocked before I realized that this was the first time any of them had noticed me. Sheepishly, a disarming smile spread across my face. "I take it that the three of you are enjoying your stay here as much as I am?" I asked lamely.

With alarming speed, Saya's head popped up and turned to look at me as well, her expression showing equal parts surprise and confusion. "E… Emiya-san," she stuttered, looking discomforted by my presence, "you were here this entire time?"

I chuckled dryly in response as an awkward atmosphere descended upon us. It went on for a while before I decided that maybe conversing with them in the position I was in now wasn't such a good idea. With a slight grunt, I got up from my spot and jumped off to the lower part of the roof, my knees bending to support my weight.

I turned around to face the two, both of whom were still looking at me strangely. "I guess I didn't make a very good impression before, did I?" I asked jokingly, hoping to lighten up the mood. When that didn't seem to work, I decided to just keep my mouth shut and join the two as they sat with their backs to the wall.

Again, there was silence as I waited for the two to finally get used to my presence. It took a while, but eventually, they stopped glancing towards me and just focused on the clouds.

Before any form of conversation could begin, we all heard the sound of the roof door being thrown open, followed by a pained grunt. I looked to the side to find Kai, standing just within my view, his stance making it look as though he'd just been pushed back.

Riku called out to his brother, his voice filled with fret as the redhead turned to look at the three of us. His gaze seemed to linger on me for a moment as a look of hostility flashed over his face. It didn't last long, though, as the older teen focused on something that was in front of him.

"Are you serious?" a shocked and confused female voice sounded from where the door to roof was, accompanied by the sound of shifting clothes. It was probably that doctor, Julia, I believe; very likely she was talking to-

"If I hold back, he won't learn anything. I have to pound it into his body."

-David. My eyes narrowed a bit as I stood up and began approaching the older teen. It wasn't really my place, but, much as I believed he could've used the lesson, the part of me that was motivated to help others was telling me to stop this one sided fight before it began. Or at least try.

Unfortunately, I didn't so much as get two steps closer before the blonde American was standing ready in front of the redhead. "Bring it," he said simply, watching impassively as his would-be opponent's face furrowed in anger, his stance widening to accommodate him better.

I may not have known him much, but I knew enough about Kai to know how this would turn out. He fought a lot in the streets of Okinawa, and due to a baseball injury, heavily favoured his right arm; a fact very widely known to those who knew him. David had the Kai's inexperience, predictability and rage as his advantages. Kai had nothing.

Stopping them physically would be impossible at this point. Not without using force myself. I'd have to psyche him out. Not much of a problem. It was already obvious to me just what would happen next.

Just as Kai's muscles tensed, signalling his attack, I spoke out as clear as I could: "Charging right haymaker." All eyes turned to me as they registered what I just said, most of them confused. The only one who differed was Kai. Rather than confusion, the redhead was looking at me in shock. I guess he actually _did_ make plans on how to attack, if badly made ones.

I pressed on with my deduction. "Your punch will be dodged, but your momentum will keep you moving forward, giving David the opportunity to counter with a pressured elbow grip before twisting your body to the ground. Enraged, you'll resort to a rising lunge. Easily countered with a right straight. Even more annoyed, you'll attempt a left and right hook in succession. The first will be dodged, but the second will be caught. At which point, your own momentum will be used for a hip toss."

I paused to take a long breath. Everyone seemed even more confused now. Strangely enough, it was David who was surprised now. Kai just looked… angry. If it was possible, I'd sigh in my head. Of course this would happen. The redhead was too hot blooded and stubborn to just let what I was doing slide. He'd try to pick a fight with me after this, no doubt. Still, better someone who'd knock you out with minimal damage than a person aiming to teach you lesson through pain.

"Rage rising, but running dry on manoeuvres, you'll attempt a roundhouse to the mid-section, blocked by side arm guard, and countered with a punch to the stomach, sending you to the ground," I continued on, silently reinforcing my own body for what I knew was the inevitable conflict to come.

"Endurance running thin, you'll attempt a last resort charging feint, transitioned into midsection takedown, countered by a knee to the face. Dazed, you'll receive anywhere from one to multiple knee strikes before a final straight to the face."

He was getting angrier now, and what I would say next would probably just drive it home for him. But there was no going back. He was had a bad opinion of me already. All this would do is make him want to beat me more. Might as well stack his rage in my favour. I just had to give him the one bit that hurt the most.

"Prognosis: Heavily swollen face, nose bleeding, dislocated jaw, and, depending on number of knee strikes, internal bleeding in the abdominal area of varying severity."

I've only ever done it one or two times before, whenever a local street gang tried to mug me, but one thing I knew for sure was that _nothing_ hurt a street brawler's pride more than getting told hat injuries they'll receive before it actually happens. I could already see the anger clear on his face. Regrettable, that it turned out this way, but I suppose this is what happens when I don't think things through.

"What the hell do you know!?" Kai cried in anger, charging straight towards me. Eyes narrowing in anticipation, I felt as though the world around me slowed to a stop.

_"His advantage: partial knowledge of my analytical ability. Possibly useless in his state. My advantage: his rage and inexperience."_

Eyes scanning over the redheaded adolescent, I made sure to note every single thing I could about his posture. Every wrinkle on his clothes and every muscle I could see. All of it was analyzed.

_"Right arm raised, corresponding leg tenser than the other. First attack will be a haymaker feint into a sweep kick. Go inside and low to negate power of attack, simultaneously entering opponent's defence. Force contraction of diaphragm, sidestep and capture left arm. Enemy winded, strike behind right knee to drive opponent to the ground, and place detained limb in a hammerlock. Pivot 90 degrees and drive body to the floor, apply pressure as needed. Estimated time until forfeit, ten to fifteen minutes."_

My plan was set, everything was as it should be, and time seemed to move again. Absentmindedly, I noted Saya and Riku trying to talk Kai out of what he was about to do, but from the looks of it, they were too stunned to move before they could no longer stop him. Fine by me. It would be easier this way. David and Julia, however, chose to observe neutrally; the former of whom seeming to keep an analytic eye at the situation unfolding. Again, not a mitigation.

With a grunt of aggression, Kai threw his lifted fist towards me. Normally, a person would have paid more attention to it, but that was the point. His right leg began to move alongside it, making clear his intentions to anyone with a good enough eye. That he could form up this much of a strategy while enraged said quite a bit about his potential as a combatant. But ultimately, it amounted to nothing. Not now.

Before Kai could build enough momentum for his sweep to be effective, I 'd already entered his guard, left leg leading to block his attack; matching arm cocked back and ready to counterattack. All three of my unoccupied limbs moved simultaneously: my previously chambered hand balled into a fist and struck Kai straight in the stomach, right leg moved forward and to the side until it was well beyond my opponent's left flank, corresponding hand reaching under its opposite.

Right foot firmly anchoring itself to the ground, I pulled the rest of my body towards it, keeping only my left arm as close to its previous position; left leg raised at knee level. At the same time, my right hand caught Kai's wrist, grasping it tightly.

Kicking back with my left, stomping behind the redhead's knee, just as I pulled the arm I was holding under my left. The force of the attack buckled him, but didn't quite put him as low as I'd hoped. A slight miscalculation. Easily remedied. Twisting my body around until I no longer needed to turn my head to look at him, I curled his left arm around my own as I withdrew it, winding it with my other hand until I could get his hand to bend towards the direction of his neck.

Grabbing my right forearm with my opposite hand to better stabilize the joint lock, I pushed Kai's body forward, bringing it just close enough to the ground to make the next transition as easy for me as possible. First came the matter of evening out my stance for better leverage. Then came the easier part.

With a grunt of effort, I dragged my opponent's body sideways, forcing him to lie stomach down on the roof as I sunk to my knees, not once releasing the joint lock that was applied. The redhead screamed in pain as I continued applying pressure to his abused appendage. Normally, this was the part where I would've released him, but that would only lead to a more drawn out fight.

No. I needed to break his bravado here and now. Anything less and things would only go downhill. That was the last thing I wanted at the moment. It was impossible for me to know just what exactly the reason was for Kai to challenge David to a fight, but all clues led to a connection to their father's location. He wanted to go, but wasn't allowed, so he wanted to prove that he could be useful.

It was admirable in its own way. That didn't make it alright though. He'd probably die if he did go. Not that I could boast about my own survival rate. Fighting monsters, secretly attacking military vehicles on the move when they don't expect it and beating a trained personnel in a place prepared specifically for giving me an advantage? Challenging, perhaps, but not life or death hard.

Breaking into unknown territory probably owned by the U.S. army to rescue someone with no information on security? Harder. Much, _much_ harder. Especially if I had to go with anybody else. Certainly, the runes on my shirt would allow me to just traipse past the guards, but then there came problems concerning cameras and doors that required some sort of key or password.

The hypnotic runes I had worked by pulling in a small amount of ambient prana around me and coating my entire body around it. Since all beings had some potential for magic, all of them also had some form of innate magical sensory abilities, paired up with their normal sensory abilities. For those who became magi, one or two of these senses would evolve to allow them to trace magic, like my father's sense of smell, or my sense of touch. For normal people, this just acted by differentiating ambient prana with the od produced by living beings.

By coating myself in ambient prana, I essentially use these innate senses to trick people into thinking that nothing out of the ordinary is there by blending in with the environment. In fact, this 'prana bubble' phenomenon was actually why aunt Satsuki was ignored so much, but I digress. Unless something that they considered an impossibility were to occur, or if that 'prana bubble' were to burst, I would actually have to work to get someone to pay attention.

But then therein lay the problem. The phenomenon wasn't picked up by normal technology, so anyone watching through a camera feed would still spot me like they would any other intruders, and if they were actively _looking_ for me, then the hypnotism would be useless. Furthermore, it did nothing for the sense of touch, so trying to obtain a key card or whatever they used from anyone was very dangerous.

"Alright! Alright! I give up!"

A loud, pleading shout brought me out of my reverie. It actually took a while for me to fully recover, but when I did, it was to find that I had come very close to breaking Kai's arm while I was in deep thought. I really should stop doing that, but for the life of me, I didn't know how. It was probably a good idea to remedy the current situation now than to wait and go into another mental spiel though.

My course of action decided, I released the redhead teen, standing up and backing away as he flipped onto his back and sat up, rubbing his left shoulder. He was still glaring at me, but it didn't look like he was going to try anything else. Without a word, I left him like that, making my way back into the building. Completely ignoring the looks that were sent my way. It was only when was halfway through the door that I left a simplistic message: "Don't be an idiot."

With that, I left. David might not have been the one to deliver a beat down, but the point he was trying to make was still made clear to Kai. And if not, then regardless of whether or not I'd acted, the results would be the same: Kai beaten down with various injuries, but his lesson decidedly closer to his head. Just because you've fought before doesn't mean you're ready for the fight ahead. Everyone had to learn that lesson at some point.

-X-

I went straight to the hospital bed I was provided after locking the door to my room, grabbing my MAATbook from the small table beside it and turning it on. It had already been a good twelve hours. Surely aunt Ciel would've sent something by now. Like always, it took just a few seconds for the computer to finish booting up and connecting to the net.

With the motion of long practice, I logged in to check on my e-mails. Like before, I'd received a lot of mail from my family. Mostly from my siblings, some from my parents, and even one from his former classmate Eiji Kikumaru; something about winning the national intra-school tennis tournament.

Those weren't as important as the one that had aunt Ciel's address though. The size was only seven kilobytes, so the list was probably pretty small. Still, it was something. Clicking on the link, the window opened up to a list of about a dozen pair of names, followed by what seemed to be footnotes of information. I frowned at the sight. It was even less information than I had hoped. But beggars can't be choosers, not without needing to break into the secret chambers in Vatican city and obtaining the needed files from there at least. It was with that bit of resignation that I began reading text:

Stella and Laureta Brauner. Cause of turning: unknown. Killed by executors in 1365.

Balthazar and Balthier Dreaifus. Cause of turning: Experimentations by Balthier, 1415. Killed each other in 1417.

Sir Eric Coward, and Richard Coward. Cause of turning: Richard Coward turned into Dead Apostle by unknown vampire. Sir Eric Coward attacked by his brother. Richard Coward killed by his brother in 1457. Sir Eric Coward killed by Clocktower enforcers in 1543.

Eeva and Eliisa Edelfelt-

That last entry made my eyes widen. This was the second time that the name Edelfelt came up. Shaking my head to keep my focus, I read the rest of the entry.

Eeva and Eliisa Edelfelt. Cause of turning: Transformed by unknown Dead Apostle. Speculations point to Abraham Halonen. Officially disowned upon transformation. Killed by Edelfelt family magi in 1313.

And again with Abraham Halonen. From what aunt Sion said, he definitely had some sort of quality that allowed him to crystallize vampires. He also seemed to be heavily rooted to the Edelfelt family. And it certainly shouldn't be a coincidence that the Edelfelts had mystical _and_ biological factors that allowed them to produce twins at a regular rate. Were Saya and this Diva person related to the Edelfelts and Halonen?

I shook my head at the notion. 'It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts,' A Scandal in Bohemia. I had to remember that important lesson.

Still, this seemed promising. I wouldn't be able to do much about it until I received aunt Sion's mail, but for now, it was probably best to keep it in mind. For now, it was better to just continue on with the list.

-X-

Same day. Night time…

…*ring*… *ring*… *ring*… *click*

_"Hello. Jun?"_ a feminine voice inquired from over the phone. It was both welcoming, and also held a wary air about it that was apparent, even through the mechanical device. In spite of that, I still cracked a smile once I heard the greeting.

"Chisame-nee, how have you been?" I greeted back, honestly glad to have a conversation with one of my siblings. Especially one of the saner ones. "Everything going well with the Ala Alba?" I followed up, actually part way curious.

A weary sigh came from the other end. _"About as well can be expected with colleague's like mine. Then again, we haven't had any more chaos than usual, and it does rise occasionally, so I guess it isn't too bad either,"_ the spectacled half-Sekirei answered. It was clear just from that that she was in a very good mood today. What exactly managed to get her in that state, I wasn't quite certain, but I wasn't exactly going to look a gift horse in the mouth. At least not in this situation.

"That's great," I replied, honestly meaning what I said, even despite my actual motives for calling her. It was only when the tone that I had used sunk it that I realized the big mistake that I made.

A light grumbling came from the speaker as my older sister no doubt made some motion of frustration. _"Alright Jun,"_ she warned, her tone completely serious, _"what's this call about? Is there something that you want?"_

I contemplated lying to her for a few moments before discarding the idea completely. This Chisame-nee I was talking to. The only person in the clan that was harder to lie to was Kyon-nii. Fooling her was impossible, which only left one choice: go straight to the point, and hope it sticks.

"I need you to look into the activities going on in the U.S. military base situated in Okinawa."

"…"

Silence…

There wasn't a single sound coming from the other end, which meant that she either just got assassinated, or she was trying to transmit her and Kyon's patented 'snark vision' through the phone. I thanked Alaya-kaa that for all their technological advancement, the Ala Alba main office still used landline phones. Magically powered landline phones, but landline phones nonetheless.

"Chisame-nee? You alive?" I still asked, just to make sure. When an exasperated sigh reached my ears, I had become certain that the latter of my theories had been the one which was true.

_"Jun…"_ the way she dragged out my name told clearly just how much my request had irritated her, _"you're the one responsible for that 'terrorist attack' weren't you?"_ she accused, though I was certain she herself already knew the answer. _"Geez. You've only been there a few days and you _already_ managed to get yourself knee-deep in crap. I mean, something like this coming from the others, I wouldn't have been surprised, but _you_. Ugh…"_

I chuckled sheepishly at her response. Amongst my siblings, I was considered one of the more 'normal' ones. That is to say, normal in personality. This… well, I honestly would've laughed if somebody told me this would be happening. Unless it was grandpa Zel… or Reiko… or Eiko-nee… or Shinra… or Kyon. Okay, so I suppose I wouldn't have scoffed at the possibility that fast, but it would've happened.

_"Alright kid. I'll help you. Just tell me what kinda mess you're in and I'll see what I can do,"_ my older sister conceded, much to my surprise. I wonder what was going through her head? _"If you're wondering why I'm doing this, it's because you, Kyon and Takeshi-nii are the only ones I'd actually trust to only do something for a good reason."_

…Damn, I've really got to get myself some of that Common Sense ability. It's even better than my deductions.

_"So, is there anything specific you want me to look for?"_

I snapped out of my envious musings upon hearing her question. Thinking things over, I only really had one thing that could lead me to any results. "Look for the name George Miyagusuku," I instructed, standing up from the bedside and looking out the window.

_"Got it,"_ Chisame-nee responded, _"just give me a minute. Hope you don't mind being put on hold." _Without even waiting for a reply, what would normally have been silence was replaced by an instrumental version of Dekopin Rocket's Happy Material (Unofficially known as Ala Alba's theme song). I sighed tiredly. Thankfully, the exchange had gone on much smoother than I expected. I never would've thought that Chisame-nee had so much trust in me. Then again, she usually _is_ pretty hard to read. At least for me. Now I just had to weather the eternally looping J-pop instrumental refrain.

Luckily, it wasn't as annoying as the recordings of horrible poetry that Kiri-nii uses for his hold tone. In fact, I actually found the tune a bit catchy. Still, I didn't need to wait long for it to end. Just barely over a minute in, Chisame-nee's voice replaced the melody, announcing her return to the conversation.

"Find anything big?" I asked her, getting back into business. Though I knew that anything else was unlikely, it never hurt to ask.

_"Big, no,"_ she replied. I would've been both shocked and disappointed if t wasn't for her tone. _"_Huge_, yes. Just what in the name of hell did you get yourself into?!" _Ahh… the inevitable question. If it came now and in _that_ form, then the U.S. military had to be involved in something deep.

"I'm not really sure myself, to be honest. That's kind of why I turned to you, nee-san," I admitted with just a hint of awkwardness in my tone. "That, and out of all the people I could turn to, you're the only one that would even consider keeping this a secret… well, without some kind of compensation anyway."

Again silence. Like before, I couldn't help but think that Chisame-nee was staring at the phone she as using in such a way that only Kyon-nii would've been able to snark better in words. _"Alright, I'll cut to the chase,"_ she began, breaking the soundless moment two minutes in.

_"Apparently, the U.S. military there is using a educational centre they built, Yanbaru, as a front to hide experiments with things they called 'mice'. The things look more like what came out of that bat stew Kiri once tried to make while on some training trip in Transylvania though, but that's not really the point. According to this, they're the result of introducing a chemical compound known as Delta-67 into the human bloodstream. From the looks of it, the thing turns them into a bunch of low-class bestial vampires. Currently, George Miyagusuku, detained three days ago, has already had one hundred grams of the stuff injected into him. No changes yet, but it's bound to happen soon."_

I thought about that information for a moment. It was grim, really. Very likely, Kai, Riku and Saya would end up losing their adoptive father soon. And if Kai's anger towards David earlier was for the reason I thought it was, then there was a good chance that he George would turn right in front of their eyes. It was too perfect a setup, and much as I hated it, there was little I could do to change the situation.

"What else do you have?" I pressed on. There was already very little I could do with the information at hand. The best course of action was to get my hands on whatever other piece of information I can grab.

_"Not much, I'm afraid. It looks like most of the information on these things and the chemical that makes them is stored somewhere else. Possibly on a removable storage device. I _can_ tell you who makes them though."_

"Who?"

_"A French pharmaceutical company, Cinq Flèches. You've probably heard the name before."_

I nodded in assent, even though a part of me knew it served no purpose. "Tou-san's made a few mentions. MBI's biggest European rival, on par with the Ootori Zaibatsu."

_"They also happen to own a little known winery of the same name, and had established and still owns an all-girls boarding school in Vietnam. From the looks of it, they're definitely up to some sort of back alley dealings, but I can't really make any confirmations. Not without a bit more time."_

Again, I processed that information. Kiri-nii and Touma-nii were both in Vietnam, so a request to them could speed up the process of putting together the pieces of the puzzle I found myself in. But… no, I promised myself that I'd see this through with as little help as possible. I had to keep to that, otherwise, how would I ever be able to make it as a self respecting magus?

"Well that's not very useful right now," I told my sister finally. I was going nowhere with this. Might as well see if I could do anything about more manageable problems then. "Can you tell me anything that might help me get into Yanbaru?"

A sound of confusion came from Chisame-nee's side. _"You're going to try a rescue? I would've thought that you of all people would know that trying to rescue that George guy at this point is meaningless. And you don't exactly go on meaningless endeavours."_

I laughed a little upon hearing that. To actually confuse Chisame-nee. That had to be a first for me. Or at least, a first for me when I wasn't coming up with some exceedingly odd thaumaturgical experiment. "I'm not planning a rescue, nee-san. Coming in as back-up, on the other hand…"

I left it hanging there. I was certain that she would've wanted to know more, but at this point, I just wanted to get some business done. From the way she began listing needed materials, methods to shut down security and routes to get there the fastest for different situations and all the passwords I would need to get to as many places as possible, it seemed so did she.

-X-

I watched the video feed from inside Yanbaru on my MAATbook apprehensively. Normally, I'd have been telling myself how good it was to have a sister like Chisame-nee, but at this point, I was too upset at the situation to really think about such things.

Saya had left with David and Haji about two hours ago. Though Yanbaru wasn't that far, warnings and actions of the military had increased traffic on the routes that needed to be taken to reach there. Add in that they needed to traverse on foot for some portion of the travel and the journey there suddenly became much longer, time wise. Even so, they already managed to just enter the building, which was a good sign all in all.

They weren't my concern though. No, what _was_ my concern was the group of chiropterans -most likely survivors of the first one I ran in to- that had managed to escape wherever they were held in. The bestial vampires had required little more than ten minutes to kill all the personnel who were unlucky enough to have been working there at the time. It hurt, to know that I couldn't have done anything to save them, but it couldn't be helped. With the speed and strength that they showed, it would've been too late for anyone by the time I'd reached the place.

And if that wasn't bad enough, each and every single one of them left all the other survivors untouched. Normally, I would've regarded that to be a good thing, but considering each and every single one of those people would probably turn into chiropterans themselves… well, put simply, it just made them more dangerous than I thought. Dealing with a group of mindless monsters, though difficult, was still doable. But if they had some form of pack mentality, then most likely, the last two were only mindless because of hunger. It would certainly explain why the second chiropteran seemed to handle itself better than the first.

With only five chiropterans and fifty dead workers between them, each one could have effectively drank fifty six litres of blood. While that was doubtful, to think that these vampiric beasts were functioning at their best possible efficiency was probably true. They'd be a lot tougher to fight aga-

*ring*

My phone rang. Picking it up, a quick peek at the screen told me that it was Chisame-nee who called. "He-"

_"Jun, you've got an emergency!"_ my spectacled sister cried out, not even letting me greet her properly. _"I've been doing some checks on the Okinawa U.S. military base's activities! They've just decided to bomb the entire building!"_

My eyes widened in shock at the news, but my mind was already on overdrive. "How much time!?" I demanded, the respectful level tone I usually took when speaking to any of my siblings no longer present.

_"You've got two hours,"_ she answered, less alarmed, but still quite loud. _"The place is jammed with military grade tech, so phone calls aren't possible."_

"Can you shut it down?" I followed up, not missing a beat.

_"With a few minutes, yeah. But it might just tip them off if I do that. If that happens-"_

"I'll go warn them myself then," I cut her off, already knowing what she was going to say. Hanging up, I practically jumped out of the chair I'd been sitting on, threw the small cabinet by the bed open, and extracted two of my three mystic codes.

The normal route still had heavy traffic, so getting there in time wouldn't be possible with a car. That was the only real issue. Breaking in would be simple enough. Though it was built by the military, Yanbaru was still a nature preserve, publically, so initial security wasn't too tight. The deeper parts of the facility might prove troublesome, but Chisame-nee had already prepared everything I'd need for the more technical stuff.

Fortunately, there was already a solution to that one problem waiting out back. It was that knowledge which ultimately allowed a small smile to slip onto my face. I found it very odd, actually. Here I was, about to run headlong into quite possibly the most dangerous fight I've ever gone into, and yet I was smiling. I was smiling because everything was falling into place. Though what exactly that 'place' was, was a mystery, all of it still felt right.

All I knew was that I had everything I would need on my person, and come what may, I'd be able to adapt to any situation. It seemed that my short time here in Okinawa had changed me more that I realized, if I was this willing to go into combat.

Taking a deep breath of air, and now fully dressed, I strode out of my room and to the small parking lot out back. It was time for me to have a go at Kaa-san's favourite hobby, and to start on time, I needed just one more thing.

-X-

"Analyze," I intoned, staring at keyhole on Kai's bike. The world around me blurred away the moment those words left my mouth. All that I saw afterwards was the shape of the crevice that needed to be filled to start the vehicle. My skill in Structural Analysis, much like my Gradation Air, was nowhere near as good as Tou-san's, but for something like this, it was good enough. I made sure to get the exact shape the key needed to be in order to work properly. Every turn, spike and swerve. Finally, when I was confident about the shape, I held one hand open.

"Compose material." It was a bit difficult, getting the shape exactly right, but nonetheless, I managed on the first try. Or at least, I think I did. The only real way to find out was to jam it in, and hope it turns on.

The engine roared to life as it accepted the false key. Smiling at my achievement, I mounted the bike, revved it up a bit more, and drove out the parking lot.

"Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing!?"

Or at least, that was the plan. I looked towards the direction of the clinic's backdoor to Kai running towards me, his face angry. Lying to him now would probably just make this take longer. Might as well tell him the truth.

"I'm going to Yanbaru to warn them about an aerial bombing. Unless you want to risk your sister being killed, I suggest you either stay put, or hop on before I leave!" I gave him an ultimatum. Now it was just up to him whether or not he believed me. If he did, then good. If not, I'd probably need to knock him out first.

He stopped in place the moment he heard what I said, apparently giving it time to think it over. Too bad I didn't have any to give. Kicking up the side leg, I got the wheels rolling and began to head off. This seemed to finally get the redhead to make a decision, and begrudgingly chase after me, hastily seating himself behind me.

His presence would make procedures a bit trickier, but there probably wasn't much for me to worry about. He wasn't making a fuss, and that was all that mattered. Now I just had to get to Yanbaru in time.

-X-

"Just who are you, anyway?"

The question came at me from out of nowhere. I saw Kai's inquisitive frown as I glanced towards the rear-view mirror. He had the same look on his face that Kiri-nee would always have whenever he wanted to get in the kitchen.

"Johnathan Emiya. Though most of my friends and family just call me Jun," I answered back, trying to dodge his question. It wasn't the answer he wanted, I'm sure, and he probably wouldn't let the matter drop until he got one he was satisfied with, but it certainly didn't hurt to try.

By the way his reflection contorted into even deeper annoyance, that attempt probably wasn't very successful. "That's not what I meant, and you know it," he nearly growled. Seems like everything that he's seen me do so far had gotten on his nerves. Not very surprising, all things considered.

"And what, pray tell, do I know, exactly?" I inquired, feigning ignorance. His scowl deepened even further, and this time, he actually did growl.

"Stop bullshitting me already!" he snarled, and if it wasn't for the fact that he was holding onto the back of the bike, I was certain he'd have resorted to borderline violence already. "I've heard the rumours back in school. Everyone kept telling me about how you were always looking at Saya. Then every single time one of those monsters show up, you're always there."

"And _I _kept telling everyone else that I wasn't interested in her. At least not in that way," I cut him off, inwardly surprised by his insight. "And out of all the times I was present alongside those 'monsters' only the third time was intentional. The first two before that, I was just at the right place at the right time."

"The right time and place for what?" the redhead stopped me, his face growing more suspicious. The only reason I didn't cringe at that moment was because it would've given me away even worse, if it was possible. He was already on to me, so maybe not.

Time for plan B then.

"I'm an occult fanatic. Things relating to monsters like these interest me," I answered. While not technically a lie, it _was_ very under-exaggerated. Glancing again at the rear-view mirror, Kai's reflection showed him seemingly placated by the explanation. Not by much, but it was progress. I took the brief moment of silence that followed as he seemed to mull the new information in his head, checking the road and scenery to ensure I was still going in the right direction and hadn't missed a crucial turn. Fortunately, one such turn was just a few metres ahead.

"How do you fight so well then?" the part of my mind not focusing on driving diverted back to Kai. How to best explain my fighting skills. That was a bit tough. It was very much possible that he'd heard all about what I had done when the Forest guy first showed up, which would make things a bit trickier.

Of course, there is one way out. It was risky when one considered the possibility of an internet search. Ever since what had happened with Ootori Kyouya, Matsu-kaasan and Chisame-nee had since decided to wipe out the information on anyone bearing the name of Emiya. It was effective in shrouding us just from net searches, and with every Emiya -family or no- completely wiped clean, no one would be suspicious of us specifically, even if they _did _notice. This, however, did not help when they were already suspicious of us.

Mentally nodding to myself, I checked the mirror again and was greeted by the older teen's impatient face. "My family has a long-standing tradition of training all members in some form of combat, blood relative or otherwise," I told him. Again, what I said was technically true. It had been about three quarters of a century since Kiritsugu-Ojiisan was trained to be an assassin, and people in my family had been trained in at least rudimentary self defence ever since.

Hell, even Aya-nee knew some basic Judo and Kendo so she could defend herself from thugs and rapists. Not that she ever needed it.

"Wait, so every person in your family can fight like you?" the older teen questioned, apparently bewildered by the possibility. It actually puzzled me that he'd be so surprised, having lived in the birthplace of karate for all his life.

Nevertheless, I shook my head in answer. "We all have different styles of fighting, and we're all on different levels," I explained, taking note of how close we were to our destination. Just fifteen more minute or so. All I had to do was keep this track of conversation going and there wouldn't be any risks. "If you really want to see something impressive, you should see Takeshi-nii. If it ever came down to a straight up one on one fight, only a few people in my family can beat him, none in our generation… well, except wife, anyway. But no fight between those two ever starts off on even ground."

There was a pause, and Kai's reflection showed a look of intrigue. "Completely whipped?" he asked, a hint of amusement in his tone. Looks like the current topic of conversation had gotten his mind off of his hostilities somewhat.

"Completely whipped," I confirmed, nodding amusedly. "He doesn't admit it. In fact, I don't think Takeshi-nii even realizes it, but he is." Few people could ever truly handle Takeshi-nii. He was always the one in control amongst my siblings. All that changes whenever Haruhi-neesan is with him. Fortunately for my more troublesome siblings, either Takeshi-nii was busy being trained by Tou-san and Takami-obaasan to take over MBI, Haruhi-neesan was working on some case or was thought by her mentor, Naruhodo-san, or it was both at once. This, of course, was unfortu-

"Hey, Lewis is over there!" Kai called out, one of his arms extended past my shoulder, pointing at a black SUV. Focusing back on the road, I found that, yes, Lewis was in front of the SUV, and armed with a semi-automatic rifle I once saw in Keiko-nee's collection.

"I really have to stop spacing out like that," I mumbled to myself, slowing down just as the older teen behind me called out to the bald man; telling him not to shoot.

I sent a quick glance to the side where I could see Yanbaru's roof above the trees. It was still about two hundred metres away, easily reachable on foot. At this point, however, every second counted. Turning the motorbike to the facilities direction, I let go of the brakes and drove straight into the artificial forest.

Both Kai and Lewis seemed ready to protest, if what I saw in the mirrors were any indication. Now wasn't the time though. Not anymore. "This place is about to be bombed! We need to warn the others! There's no time to spare on worrying about what'll happen to the bike!" I shouted in succession, cutting them off before they could make any arguments and countering the most likely ones that might come up.

Not waiting for a response, I drove as fast as I could; reinforcing the vehicle as much as I dared and activating the runes on my clothes. "I suggest you make yourself as small as possible, Miyagusuku-san!" I told the redhead, revving up the engine and tucking myself down to make my intentions clear. He seemed to get what I was about to do and promptly grabbed on to my sides, his face on my back as I crashed the bike straight through Yanbaru's double doors.

It was a good thing nether Riko, Karin nor Fuuko saw that. They'd be making jokes about it for the rest of their lives if they did. And then there's Sakuya-nee's Yin side… and Erika… and Hayate… and aunt Yukari. Yeah, good thing no one else saw that.

Bringing the bike to a speedy halt and getting off as quick as possible, I took a look around the area, letting my senses fan out in search for chiropterans. Nothing registered.

"They're deeper in. Let's go," I ordered, heading for the same elevator that David, Saya and Haji had used earlier. Faintly, I registered Kai questioning me about how I even knew where they were. When I gave no answer, however, the older teen just decided to follow begrudgingly.

Looks like focusing back onto the matters concerning his own (adopted) sister brought back his sour mood. The more I interacted with him, the more I noticed how similar to Kiri-nii he was. Or at least, the Kiri-nii before the Black Knight first came into his life. He was bit rougher around the edges, but other than that, the only thing that would've stopped people from thinking they were related was the skin tone difference.

Speaking of focusing, we'd already managed to reach the hidden elevator room. Pulling out my MBI-phone, I pointed the device at the small socket, opened up an application, and selected the program Chisame-nee had sent earlier. A faint sliding sound announced the opening at the end of the phone. Six tiny wires shot out almost instantly, entering the socket and seeming to take a life all their own.

A little known feature about the MBI-phone is that it could easily be called a criminals best friend, capable of jacking into any system and overriding it. An electronic skeleton key, if you will. Only limitations? You needed to have a certain program for it to be active, and you also needed to know how to override the security system yourself. Not very useful, unless you had a master hacker on your side.

With an audible 'swish', the doors to the elevator opened. Stepping inside with not a single hesitation, I turned to face the older teen that had accompanied me here, asking him silently whether or not he was coming along. He complied just as silently, entering it as I began to work on getting the elevator moving. That is to say, I connected the MBI-phone to the elevator's control panel. Chisame-nee's program would handle everything else from here.

-X-

I could feel the unnatural power in the air long before we reached the bottom level, where the rest where likely fighting already. There were seven in total, two weak, four comparatively stronger, and one that was stronger than them all, layered with an odd sense of deference.

The elevator came to a stop. The doors opened and we were greeted by the group sent in here, accompanied by Saya's father. A wave of wrongness struck hard on my senses. Driven by instinct my hand reached for the kodachi on my hip.

The sound breaking vents and the heavy thud of hard flesh hitting the metal floor rang throughout the narrow hall that welcomed us. Glowing red eyes of the dark skinned beast of a vampire regarded me for all of a second before turning towards the only female in the area. With thaumaturgically enhanced speed, I rushed at the beast, unsheathing my mystic code.

A deep voice shouted something, but to me, it was unintelligible. Whatever it was, it got the beast's attention. All the better for me. A blast of od was circulating through my circuits, waiting to be unleashed into the mystic code.

Three steps away. Blade pulled back, ready to stab.

Two steps. The beast raised its arm, the motion becoming far slower to my perception as I reinforced my arm to its maximum.

One step. The beast began to lower its arms, as I thrust the blade forward.

Destination reached. The blade stabbed into the beast's shoulder. A burst of prana shot from me to the kodachi, activating the mystic code.

Scarlet sparks flew from the wound of the beast, and a pained roar filled the hall.

-X-

And there we go. Hope you guys liked it.


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